It's Simply Called Love
by GoldenSunshineLight
Summary: It starts off with Felicity getting into trouble again...and as we progress, we get: an overprotective Oliver Queen, an amused Diggle, and a not so amused Felicity. (Just a little story about how their relationship evolves from friendship into something more) (Olicity).
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So here's my first Fanfic! Not my First Fanfic like EVER, but the first one that I have ever posted on Fanficton. **

**I really really love Arrow and Olicity! So this is just a little story about Felicity getting into trouble once again and how their relationship progresses with every chapter. **

**I really don't know how many chapters this will be, but I hope you like the first one!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, just the plot.**

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It was pouring. Every door and window was closed as the rain pounded against every surface exposed to the outside world. No one in their right mind was outside tonight. Of course, Felicity Smoak had to be the one person out in the ominous and deadly storm.

It wasn't by choice—well not _really_ anyway. She had been working late in the basement of Verdant again and although every practical nerve in her body told her to stay the night, she didn't exactly feel like staying in the basement alone. So there she was, speed walking through the rain (or as much "speedwalking" as one can manage to do in high heels when it's pouring buckets of rain), with a newspaper held over her head in a vain attempt to keep her hair from getting completely soaked. Finally spotting her car, she cursed herself for parking so far away from the basement's entrance and for not taking up Oliver's offer to drive her home earlier.

Soaked to the bone, she was glad that she had forgotten her tablet inside the basement. With a frustrated groan, she recalled that she had unfortunately _not_ forgotten to take her phone and she was sure that it was damaged. Finally reaching the car door, she fiddled with the keys for a moment, not really caring at this point because really; how could this night get any worse?

Getting a hold of the right key, she slipped it inside and wrenched the door open, sitting down heavily before slamming it closed again. She started the car, but took a moment to wipe her glasses clean and squeeze some of the water out of her soaked ponytail. Sighing, she turned on the windshield wipers of the car and began backing out of the parking spot. As soon as she got home, she was going to take a nice warm shower and snuggle in the blankets to watching re-runs of _The Big Bang Theory._

She should have been driving slowly. She could barely see a thing in front of her, but the Glades were still in ruins and driving through the crime infested streets still made her nervous. As a result, she wasn't driving slowly and all she could make out was a large black splotch before she felt herself lurch forward. Seconds later, she heard the sound of the impact that she had already felt. Her seatbelt held her in place, but there was a brief moment where she felt it cut into her skin. Her eyes closed and she heard another loud crack as her head hit something hard. And then nothing; everything went black.

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Cold. That was the first thing that she felt; the cold concrete under her. Letting out a weak groan, she flinched slightly as a sharp pain shot through her head. She hadn't opened her eyes yet and judging by her throbbing head, she didn't think it was a very good idea. So she lay there, unmoving trying to recall what had happened.

She couldn't tell you how long she lay there, but it felt like a long time. In all that time, nothing had come back to her, she only remembered working in the basement at the Verdant, but nothing more. Sighing, because she knew she would regret it, she slowly opened her eyes. She was relieved at first, because the room was dark and she was sure that bright lighting would only have fueled her headache. It soon dawned on her however, that something was wrong.

With a start, she realized that her hands were bound together behind her back as she lay on her side. Her feet were in the same position. She also noticed that she lay in a completely empty room. It wasn't a large room, but there were no windows or doors that she could see, so she assumed that the lone door must be placed somewhere behind her.

As she tried to shift her body, she suddenly felt a deep pain in her side and she hastily bit her lip to keep from crying out. Whoever had captured her was under the impression that she was unconscious and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. She hoped that Oliver would come for her soon.

Oliver. She wondered what he was doing now. Did he already notice she was missing? How long had it been since she had crashed her car? She didn't want to think about her captor, or her injuries, so she just focused on Oliver. His bright blue eyes that were dull far too often for her liking, the graceful yet forceful way he moved, the soft tone he used when he spoke to her, and his smile that made her stomach flip.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, followed by a series of gunshots and crashes. She stiffened, listening carefully to the sounds of battle and cringing slightly whenever a shot was fired. After what seemed to her like an eternity, the gunshots ceased which could mean various things; Oliver had shot arrows through his shoulders, the madman had run out of bullets and was now forced to fight like a man instead of a coward, or the madman had hit his target.

She hoped it wasn't the last scenario, but as the minutes ticked by in silence, she became more anxious. Ignoring the searing pain that shot through her as she tried to shift herself to face the door, she wriggled helplessly on the floor. Images of a wounded Oliver filled her mind and she became more desperate with each movement.

_'No. Please no. Oliver has to be okay. He has to.' _

As she made a particularly rough movement, she involuntarily let out a loud cry of pain. Instantly, she stilled, listening to the sound of her breathing and the beating of her heart pound in her ears. Minute after minute passed in agony and white spots began to dance before her eyes. Tears of fear, pain, and frustration began to run own her face.

"Felicity!"

Aware that she was about to lose consciousness again, she thought she had imagined his voice.

"Felicity!"

She let out a shaky breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Relief washed over her. Oliver was all right and she was going to be just fine.

"Felicity! Goddammit where are you?"

He sounded angry, really angry. There was a loud crash as something broke. As she tried to force her eyes to remain open and her mind to remain conscious, his voice made her aware that she was supposed to be doing something. The white spots had become too many now and, try as she might, she couldn't comprehend what she was supposed to be doing. Slowly, her eyelids began to shut of their own accord.

"Felicity!"

He was closer. And in a brief and final moment of clarity, she knew. She needed to call out to him, so that he could find her. "Oliver!" It was meant to be loud, but it was no more than a strangled whisper.

Evidently, it was enough because there was a loud bang as the door was forced open and she was vaguely aware that she was being picked up. She only had time to register the feel of his strong arms under her before she lost consciousness.

"Felicity, you're safe. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you." She thought she imagined those words and the brief press of his lips against her forehead as she slipped into the darkness.

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**AN: So I hope you liked it. :D Please comment and tell me what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So here's chapter 2! :D It mostly deals with the direct aftermath...but I hope you guys still like it.**

**Thank you guys so much for the lovely reviews! I've read them all and I'm glad you guys like the story. :D **

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Beeping. There was an incessant beeping of some sort. She couldn't pinpoint the source of the sound and it annoyed her. Groaning, she tried to focus on the sound.

_Beep... Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep... _

Consciousness started to seep into her foggy mind. She was suddenly aware that her body ached, her head hurt, and she was exhausted. She shut her eyes tightly, hoping to drift back off to sleep. With every second that passed however, she could feel herself becoming more conscious.

Giving up on the notion of falling back to sleep, she carefully opened her eyes, regretting it instantly. The room was brightly lit: too brightly lit. Whoever had been in charge of lighting, had obviously overdone it, she thought as she closed her eyes again.

_Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... _

"Ughh, what is that?" It took her a second to realize that the words had come out of her mouth. She didn't even recognize her own voice; it was raspy and dry.

"Felicity?"

She opened her eyes again and found herself looking directly in the light-blue orbs that she loved so much. She attempted a small smile, but from the way his frown deepened in worry, she doubted that she had managed to look convincing.

He looked tired. _'Why does he look tired?' _

"Felicity, how are you feeling?" He asked softly.

"Like I got dropped in a blender," she replied, trying to coax a smile out of him.

He didn't smile. He only stared at her, the same worried expression on his face. There was something in his gaze she couldn't quite place: sorrow, annoyance, regret, relief? He stepped away from her, and looked out the window.

With a little effort, she turned her head. He was wearing a dark blue shirt, and jeans. To be honest, he looked slightly disheveled and she found that comforting. It usually meant that he was more relaxed, but as she looked at his ridged form her brows drew together.

And then it hit her: the late night in the basement, the drive, the crash, being taken captive, and her rescue. She blinked back a few tears, as she remembered her fear, not only for herself, but for Oliver as well. She waited patiently as the memories washed over her, followed by a great sense of relief and finally a bit of annoyance as she looked at Oliver. He was no doubt blaming himself in some way and she needed him to stop that.

_Beep… Beep... Beep... Beep… Beep..._

Whatever was making that noise was getting on her last nerve. She began to turn her head in the direction of the noise but stopped short. "A _hospital?_"

He turned to look at her, an almost undetectable smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Evidently, he had been waiting for that.

"You brought me to a _hospital?" _She asked outraged.

Coming to stand beside, what she now realized was her hospital bed, he took her hand in his. He didn't look at her, he kept his gaze locked instead on their hands. He began rubbing small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, but still refused to look at her.

Her mind was a whirlwind. She was angry, angry that he had brought her to the hospital. She could have just been treated in the basement of the Verdant like he and Diggle always were. She was confused, confused because he was acting differently and she didn't really understand why. She had gotten into trouble before; The Count being the most recent of those incidents. Why was this time different?

"You got hurt." He'd said it so softly that she'd almost convinced herself that she'd imagined it.

She wanted to raise her eyebrows and scoff at him. She wanted to glare at him and role her eyes. She wanted to tell him that he got hurt on a weekly basis and she still didn't feel the need to bring _him _to the hospital—well actually she did more often than not, but she suppressed that urge. He met her eyes then and she didn't do or say any of it, because the hurt, anger, and sorrow in his eyes was something that she'd never seen from him before. The conflicting emotions that he let her see in that moment threatened to overpower her and consume her in their entirety.

Closing her eyes, she took a few shaky breaths to steady herself and attempt to slow down her heart that had begun racing a hundred miles an hour. To her utter embarrassment, the beeping on the machine sped up to match her heartbeat. She kept her eyes firmly closed until she finally managed to get her heartbeat back to normal.

"What happened?" She asked when she met his eyes again.

He sighed and closed his eyes briefly, before opening them again. He knew that she was asking for his side of the story and she could see that he was about to divert the conversation to another topic.

"Tell me what happened," she said.

He looked at her seriously for a moment and then let go of her hand. She waited patiently as he placed a chair close to the bed and sat down. With one more sigh, he began: "I was at home. It was around 1:30, but I couldn't sleep. I was flipping through TV channels when I got an alert on my phone; the tracker in your car had gone off and—"

She raised her eyebrows "Tracker in my _car_?"

"Yes," he said simply, not bothering to explain or defend himself in any way. "In any case, the tracker went off indicating that something was wrong. I got out of the house immediately and drove." He paused and took a deep breath, "When I got there it—it was damaged beyond repair and you—you weren't there. You weren't there Felicity…"

He looked hurt and angry at the same time. She wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how, so she just waited. He ran a hand over his face, as if attempting to wipe his mind clean of the memory.

"I called Digg and he drove out to meet me. He pointed out to me that you're car was in the middle of the road at an intersection and that another car must have passed right in front of you. I should have seen it myself, but I wasn't thinking clearly…He told me he'd already called the hospitals and that you weren't there.

"We went back to Verdant and found your tablet. We tried tracking your phone, but it was dead. Eventually, Digg pulled up the traffic camera feed. We saw it all play out. The car had been standing in the middle of the intersection for some time—it was as if they were waiting, as if they knew you'd come."

She felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought of having been watched. She hoped that Oliver hadn't seen, but nothing escaped his eyes. He'd seen. Smiling slightly, he took hold of her hand again.

"It was raining too hard and you didn't see the car, so you crashed. The men hadn't expected that because it took them some time to go over to the driver's seat and pull you out. They took your limp body and put you in the back seat of their car. Then, they drove off. Digg zoomed in on their license plate and tracked it to an abandoned building."

He paused, and she smiled at his last comment; she had taught her boys something after all. She practically swelled with pride and Oliver caught on because he winked before continuing.

"They had guards posted at the entrances, but part of the roof was made of glass, so I went through there while Digg took the guards posted on the outside perimeter. I took out two guys instantly, the third began shooting and I evaded the shots. One of the shots hit the light and everything went dark. It got really quiet for some time, but I used it to my advantage. I got a hold on him from behind.I asked him a few questions. It turns out he only wanted to get Arrow's attention," he said in a disgusted tone. "I killed him."

Her eyes went wide for a fraction of a second as she realized he had probably killed the other two men as well. She knew that he had been trying to do things differently and she was sorry that, yet again, she was the reason that he had killed. Apologizing wouldn't have done much good so she gave his hand a small squeeze, "Thank you."

Just then there was a knock on the door and she turned to see Diggle entering the room. He smiled down at her fondly and then turned his attention to Oliver. After a moment he pulled up a chair and came to sit next to Oliver ignoring their intertwined hands. "How are you feeling Felicity?"

"Like I got dropped in a blender."

He laughed.

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**AN: So...? What did you guys think? **


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So, here it is... Chapter 3! **

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Felicity was happy to be going home. She'd spent three whole days in the hospital—_four _if you counted the day that she'd spent unconscious there. Now she looked out the car window as the city passed by, excitedly thinking about the Sunday she would mostly spend at home snuggled up on her couch.

She would have spent Saturday at home too, but Oliver had insisted she stay an extra day in the hospital. He had good intentions, so Felicity let it slide and did as he asked. There had been a slight change in him since she'd woken up, but he was careful to conceal it. She'd noticed, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, so she said nothing.

The car ride was silent but she didn't mind. It gave her time to think as well as an excuse to keep her eyes fixed on the city and the darkened sky that covered it. Oliver had been with her the majority of the time that she'd spent in the hospital. He'd taken days off work to sit with her in her hospital room watching movies or TV shows she loved. She appreciated it, she really did, but there was only so much exposure to his ice-blue eyes that she could take at a time. Honestly, she was surprised she hadn't melted or swooned.

'_Bad Felicity,' _she chided as her thoughts drifted from his perfect eyes, to his lips, and—well _everything_. She _really _had to get over this crush on her billionaire/hero boss.

Luckily for her, she could look forward to a good night's sleep tonight in her own bed and then an Oliver-free Sunday before she had to see him again at work. That was enough time to get her thoughts straight.

The car parked in front of her apartment building and she stepped out into the cold night air, careful to smooth out the wrinkles in the light-blue sundress Oliver had bought for her to wear home. She also readjusted her new glasses as Oliver came to stand beside her, and she smiled reassuringly up at him before heading into the building. She could feel Oliver walking closely beside her and she heard Diggle's footsteps behind them.

The confused and slightly apprehensive expression on the doorman's face let her know that this was a little excessive. It _should _have simply looked like Felicity coming home and bringing two friends over. Instead, she knew that it looked more like Felicity coming home escorted by two very imposing bodyguards. She dismissed the doorman's expression and simply greeted him with her usual smile as she walked towards the elevators.

It was only when they stood in front of her door that she remembered a very important detail. "Uhh…I don't have a key….," she said, turning to face them with a sheepish smile.

Both men looked very amused and were obviously trying not to laugh. Oliver gently pulled her aside so that she was no longer blocking the door and she watched, speechless, as he took out a key from his pocket and inserted it in the lock.

Pushing the door open, Oliver instantly reached out to the light switch, found right beside the door, as if he'd been doing it for years. She followed Oliver inside and heard Diggle shut the door as she took off her flats and set them neatly beside the door.

"Nice place Felicity," Diggle said, looking around her medium-sized apartment.

She smiled at him and turned to take in the familiar surroundings. Everything was just as she'd left it; the coffee table to the far left in front of her couch was still stacked with various science magazines as well as some comic books, there were still stacks of dvd's in front of her television that she'd been meaning to put back on the shelf, the book shelf beside the television was still a haphazard mess, and her kitchen was still sparkly clean.

She walked over to the far end of the room and pulled back the curtains, revealing an arched window that looked out onto part of the city. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Diggle and Oliver moving about, as if taking a small tour of her apartment, but she knew that they were really making sure that nothing was out of place.

She watched, slightly amused, as Oliver put his hand on the doorknob of her room and Diggle swatted his hand away with a condemning look. Oliver was completely unfazed, but turned to her, silently asking for permission. She bit her lip to keep from laughing and nodded. She didn't follow them into her room, letting them finish their little inspection on their own while she moved to her kitchen and heated some water in the kettle.

They came out of her room just as she turned on the stove. "Felicity?!" She heard Oliver's panicked voice call from her living room.

She realized that the refrigerator was blocking her view of him and vice versa. Rolling her eyes, she called: "In here!"

In seconds he was in the kitchen and she raised an eyebrow at him before turning her back and reaching up to grab one of the mugs on the shelf. Setting it down, she opened one of the drawers and took out a package of powdered hot chocolate—the ones with the little marshmallows.

Turning back to him, she found that he hadn't moved a muscle, but he looked relaxed. She also noticed Diggle standing behind Oliver with a huge grin on his face. He was apparently _very _amused by Oliver's overreaction. Before she could say anything he spoke: "Well Felicity, I'm glad your home safe. I have a date with Layla tonight—in an hour in fact, so I have to get going, but I'll come by to visit one of these days."

"Okidoki Diggs," she said passing Oliver to hug Diggle. "Thanks for everything, really. Have fun on your date tonight," as she said the last part she pulled out of the hug and wriggled her eyebrows.

Diggle let out a throaty laugh before giving her shoulder a light squeeze and heading for the door.

"Say 'hi' to Layla for me!"

"Will do!" he called from the hallway.

She turned to Oliver. "Thank you for everything Oliver," she smiled at him.

He gave her a soft smile. "Actually, I thought we'd watch _Tangled_. We never got to it in the hospital."

She knew what he was doing; he wanted to stay longer to make sure she was all right. Part of her found his concern sweet, but another part wanted to roll her eyes and tell him that she was going to be fine and that he should go home. Besides, she didn't think she'd really make it through the movie without falling asleep. The look on his face told her that he was going to be stubborn, so she deflected the subject entirely: "Didn't your ride just walk out through my door?"

He shrugged. "I left one of my cars here earlier. It's parked outside."

_'Of course you did.' _Her eyes narrowed at him briefly, before she walked past him and turned off her stove. She took another mug from the shelf and another pack of hot chocolate from the drawer. She could feel his eyes on her as she made two steaming cups of hot chocolate.

"I can't promise I'll stay awake, but make yourself comfortable on the couch. I'm going to change quickly."

He smiled at her as she passed him and headed for her room. Just before she closed the door, she saw him set the two cups of hot chocolate on the coffee table before letting himself fall heavily on the couch.

She opened her closet and picked out her grey Minnie Mouse T-shirt and grey sweatpants. She considered going into her bathroom to change, but didn't really want to look at her reflection. She was sure she looked an absolute mess, so she threw her clothes on the bed and reached behind her to get a hold on the zipper of her dress.

She winced; the action of reaching for the zipper was proving to be difficult and painful. The nurse had helped her zip up the dress earlier and now, the action of attempting to reach the zipper was pulling painfully at the wound in her side. She dropped her arm to her side, took a deep breath and tried again, letting out a little cry of pain. Sighing, she looked at the door apprehensively; she was going to have to ask Oliver for help.

Letting out a frustrated groan she tried again to no avail. '_This is not something you should be asking your boss to do,' _she told herself. '_What would you do if Oliver wasn't here?' _Truth be told, she would have slept in the dress and figured out some sort of solution in the morning if Oliver wasn't sitting in her living room. After a few more minutes passed, she sighed and accepted the fact that Oliver _was _in the living room and that he would only ask her why she hadn't changed if she simply went back in there and started to watch the movie.

With one last groan of frustration, she opened the door and walked slowly to Oliver who sat on her couch now reading one of her science magazines. She knew that he had sensed her presence, but he only looked up at her when she stood in front of him. Taking in the sight of her, still wearing the dress, his expression became confused. Sighing and hanging her head she said: "I can't get the zipper…my side hurts when I reach for it. Could you…." She left it hanging.

He nodded and stood. She turned around, acutely aware of how close he stood behind her. He placed a hand on her waist (the side that wasn't wounded), in order to steady her. She could feel the heat of his palm through the material of her dress and she bit her lip to keep from gasping at the bolt of electricity that shot through her. She felt him remove his hand and then place it against her back to hold the fabric in place. His other hand took hold of the zipper and his knuckles trailed down her back as he pulled the zipper down slowly.

'_Is he taking his time?' _She asked herself as a small shiver ran down her spine. She froze. He froze. Her heart pounded in her ears and it took every inch of self-control that she possessed to stand still not to bolt into her room. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only about a minute and a half, he pulled her zipper down the rest of the way. It took him a few seconds longer than it should have to remove his hands, but when he did she managed to choke out a: "Thank you," before walking away without looking back.

'_Don't run. Walk. Don't run. Walk. Don't run. Walk,' _she repeated the words again and again, miraculously managing to refrain from running to her room. Once the door was closed however she let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

'_What was that?' _ She couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Taking various deep breaths, she felt her heartbeat return to normal. She slipped off the dress and out on the clothes she had thrown on her bed. Redoing her ponytail, she opened the door and walked into the living room once more. She wasn't really sure she could face him again, but there was nothing else that she could do. She found him sitting in the same position she had found him in only moments before, his eyes scanning over one of the articles on retina scanners.

She found the _Tangled _dvd on the top of the pile of dvd's in front of her TV. She popped it into her dvd player and turned the tv on. She felt Oliver's eyes on her as she moved to the couch and sat down and she turned to look at him.

"So…why is this one of your favorite Disney movies?"

She grinned, relief flooding over her as he completely disregarded the earlier incident. "It's funny and cute and just…great."

"Does it have singing?" He asked closing one eye to let her know that he didn't really like musicals all that much.

She laughed. "It's not _The Sound of Music, _but yes, it has singing."

He shook his head lightly, "Right then."

She took her hot chocolate and sipped it slowly as the movie began. He watched without comment as the first musical number ended. When Gothel began to sing however, he turned to her, eyebrows raised. "Craziest. Mother. Ever."

She threw her head back, absolutely shaking with laughter. She watched amused, as the movie progressed, enjoying Oliver's commentary. When Maximus began tracking Flynn like a dog Oliver actually face-palmed, and Felicity broke out into another fit of laughter.

She found that Oliver's funny commentary kept her awake during a large part of the movie, but as she watched Flynn and Rapunzel enter the kingdom, her eyelids grew heavy and by the time the floating lanterns rose, she'd rested her head on Oliver's shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

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**AN: So...? How was it? Should I continue?**

** I honestly don't know why I chose ****_Tangled _****as the movie that they ended up watching but there's just something beyond hilarious about Oliver watching musicals...especially Disney musicals. :P **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So here we are with Chapter 4! Thank you for the great comments, they inspire me to keep going! I hope you guys like this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it!**

**So with every new chapter I write, I get new ideas. I honestly still don't have a clue as to how many chapters this will be but I'm enjoying the writing process.**

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Felicity pulled the covers up higher and snuggled further into the sheets. Without opening her eyes, she lazily stretched under the covers. In the back of her mind, she was vaguely aware of the fact that she had not fallen asleep in her bed yesterday, but she pushed that thought away, deciding she would make sense of things when she was ready to wake up. She wasn't ready now.

She'd been on the edge of sleep when her tablet rang and she sat up with a start, looking around for the source of the ringing. Spotting her tablet on her bedside table, she sighed in annoyance but picked it up and squinted at the screen. The Skype on the tablet stopped ringing and she reached for her glasses. No sooner had she put them on than the Skype started to ring again. Oliver.

"H—Hello?" She said drowsily, making sure to turn on the voice call only instead of the video call. She made a mental note to go and buy herself a new cellphone during her lunch break on Monday.

She heard a low chuckle. "Morning sleepy head."

She yawned and looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand: 11:30. "Hi Oliver."

"Sleep well?"

"Mhmmm," was all she managed as she threw the covers off of her and slowly began walking towards the kitchen.

"Good. I just wanted to check in on you."

"Oh, I—" she yawned again. "Sorry. I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you?"

"I'm good. Listen, if you need anything or want me to come over or anything, let me know okay?"

She took the kettle off of the stove and placed it next to the sink. "Will do Oliver, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Make sure you rest too, okay?"

"Okay."

He was silent and she shook her head slightly even though he couldn't see her. "I mean it Oliver."

"Yeah I know…Bye Felicity."

"Bye Oliver."

As she waited for the water to boil, she realized that she had not fallen asleep in her own bed and that Oliver must have carried her to her room and set her on the bed. She smiled to herself at the thought, but quickly shook her head.  
'_Bad Felicity! He's a good friend, that's all.' _

She spent the rest of her Sunday lazily sitting on her couch reading, watching television, taking naps, and answering about six Skype chats; three from Oliver, two from Diggle, and one from her mother. They all asked how she was doing; her mother was, of course, completely unaware of the events that had occurred. She felt slightly guilty about that, but it was better this way. She didn't want to have to come up with ridiculous explanations and worry her mother who would, no doubt, see through her.

* * *

The next morning, she awoke earlier than usual and got ready for work, choosing a red dress with a pleated skirt. Its sleeves stopped just above her elbow and she chose it specifically because she could easily slip it over her head—no zippers. She put her hair in her usual ponytail and grabbed a pair of nude pumps and a white jacket on her way out.

Once outside, she put on her jacket and walked to one of the waiting taxis. The sky was still tainted with shades of pink and orange and she rested her head against the headrest, quietly enjoying the view of the still sleeping city as the taxi drove. Soon she was paying the taxi driver and stepping out onto the sidewalk. It was still too early to go to work, so she'd told the driver to drop her off in front of the post office.

Her intended destination was a coffee shop not far from the post office. She could have told the taxi driver to drip her off there, but she wanted to walk. She wasn't in a hurry, so why not? She passed very few people as she walked and she didn't see many cars pass either, but she liked it. She'd grown up in a city—it was much smaller than Starling, but it was still a city—, so she was used to the busy atmosphere. Once in a while however, she found it nice when it was quiet.

The cold morning air bit at her exposed skin, but she didn't mind it. It felt refreshing and woke her up. She let her mind wander, almost laughing at how much like her rambles her thoughts were. They sort of bounced off of the walls in her head, all calling for her attention. She wasn't exactly missing a brain-to-mouth filter—_okay _yes she was—, but it was just the way her mind worked. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't see the man and before she knew it, she'd come face to face with a solid chest and was reeling backwards, arms stretched out in front of her.

Luckily, his reflexes were fast and he caught her arm and pulled her forward before she could fall flat on her butt. He'd used too much force in pulling her however, because she collided with his chest again with a little: "ompfff."

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" He sputtered as she pulled back. She was busy bending down to pick up his phone and re-adjusting her glasses, so she didn't see his eyes widen in recognition. "Felicity?"

'_That voice.' _Straightening herself, she looked at him: eyes wide and mouth agape. "Omigosh James! Hi! Wow! What are you doing here? I mean not that you're not allowed to be here—It's only that I didn't think I'd see you here. Not like 'here' as in the sidewalk, like 'here' as in Starling. Wow. I just— It's been so long and—"

She was cut off by his outburst of laughter and she blushed, closing her mouth and waiting patiently for him to finish. He was just as she remembered him. His baby blue eyes were still bright with joy, his raven hair still slightly disheveled in that sort of sexy way, his teeth were still impeccably white, his face still clean shaven, and he was still tall and broad. He'd become more muscular, no Oliver Queen of course in that regard, but still quite impressive.

"Still my same old Felicity," he said smiling fondly. She smiled brightly when he called her 'his', already she could feel that nothing had changed between them. It was as if they'd stayed in contact all those years. He looked her over, "I think though, that you became more beautiful. I actually didn't think that was possible."

She blushed slightly and ducked her head. "You haven't changed a bit either. More muscles perhaps, but still the same old James."

He chuckled, "I'm actually not going to apologize for bumping into you. We might have passed each other without even realizing it."

She laughed, "Lack of apology accepted!" She handed him his unscathed phone.

"So where are you headed Miss Smoak. It is still Miss Smoak isn't it?"

"Yes. Not even a boyfriend."

"I find that very hard to believe," he said raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged, still smiling widely, "It's the truth. What about you?"

"No girlfriend or anything."

"Now _I _find that hard to believe." He laughed and she suddenly remembered his first question, "I'm headed to the coffee shop just—" she looked around her, realizing that they were standing right in front of the coffee shop. "Right here actually."

"Great. I need a coffee," he said opening the door to the small and empty coffee shop and letting her walk inside.

They ordered their coffee and, in a truly gentlemanly manner, James paid for them both despite her protests. It was still too early to go to work, so they sat down at a table near the window and she told him all about MIT and her life in Starling. He raised an eyebrow when she mentioned that she was Executive Assistant to the CEO at Queen Consolidated.

"That doesn't sound like you Licity."

She sighed and looked down at her coffee, "I know…I'd honestly rather be in the IT department."

"Then why aren't you?" He asked softly.

"Oliv—Mr. Queen is a good friend. He personally asked me to take the position when he became CEO and," she paused, thinking about how she'd protested and yelled at Oliver, "I just couldn't let him down."

When she looked back at him he was smiling, his blue eyes soft, "Definitely still my Licity."

She knew he was referring to her overly nice nature and how she hated to let anyone down. She remembered how he'd told her time and time again to forget everyone else once in a while and make sure she paid attention to herself and her needs. He'd done it every time that someone had let her down and upset her. She'd never listened.

She smiled widely. She looked over his expensive-looking suit, "So what are you doing in Starling City?"

"Business," he said. Chuckling as she tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in a 'No? _Really?_ I never would have guessed' expression. "I'm an accountant and there's an accounting office that just opened here. I'm hoping to become a partner, so I have a meeting with the owner today. If I become a partner, I'll be moving to Starling."

"Wow. Yay!" She laughed a little at herself, but the thought of having him close to her again made her happy. She hadn't even really realized how much she missed him until now.

He laughed too and they sat in a comfortable silence for some time. The city was now wide-awake: cars were slowly moving in traffic, the coffee shop was almost full, and people were walking on the sidewalks in large multitudes. She looked at her watch and almost groaned, if she didn't leave now she'd be late for work, but she didn't want to leave.

James caught on. "I'm in the city for a whole week. Give me your number and I'll call you so we can hang out and go to dinner."

She looked at him sheepishly, "I uh… I actually dropped my phone in the pool."

He suddenly looked amused. "You have a swimming pool?"

Her eyes went wide. _'What kind of lie was that? I could have just told him it broke or that I dropped it in a puddle. A pool? Really Felicity? You seriously need to work on your lying skills!' _

"I uh… no. I dropped it in Oliv—Mr. Queen's swimming pool."

Now he looked utterly lost. "Mr. Queen's swimming pool?"

"I uh… yes. I went over to his house the other day to drop off some papers and he was outside, so I was going to ask him to come inside so he could look at the papers because I left the papers inside. There was a puddle in front of the pool and I slipped and fell in," she explained hurriedly.

'_Wow. Just Wow. Congratulations Felicity that was officially the worst lie ever invented in the history of mankind!' _

Whether or not he believed it, James laughed.

"Give me your number and I'll call you. I'm going to get a new phone today during my lunch break," she said while she pulled out her tablet and opened the _Notes_. She jotted it down and, putting the tablet back in her bag, she stood.

They walked out together and shared a warm hug before he began walking the opposite direction. She smiled as he glanced back over his shoulder once. '_This is going to be a good week,' _she thought happily as she watched her best friend in the entire world walk away.

* * *

When she arrived on the top floor, she saw that Oliver's desk was empty. As she set her coffee down on her desk, she realized that a brand new cell phone lay waiting for her and she smiled at the sticky note that held Oliver's handwriting. **_'Thought you might like it.' _**Her smile soon disappeared however, when she turned on the screen and found 20 missed calls waiting for her. Fifteen were from Oliver and five were from Diggle.

She quickly called Oliver back, instantly regretting it and wishing she'd called Diggle instead. "Where the heck are you Felicity?!" Came Oliver's booming voice after one ring.

She cringed. "At work?" She looked at the time: 7:20. She wasn't late. She was early.

A frustrated sigh came from the other end of the line and she could just imagine Oliver trying to get a hold of his anger. "We've been worried sick!"

She cringed again; he wasn't doing a very good job of controlling his emotions. "I'm sorry?" She wasn't very sure why they were worried. Here she was at work, safe and sound and early.

"Why did you leave your apartment so early?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"I wanted to walk and go get some coffee before I came in," she said thoroughly confused. How had they known what time she'd left?

There was a loud sigh from Oliver. "We came to pick you up at your usual departure time, considering you don't have a car and the doorman tells us that you've already left. You're tablet must be on silent because we tried to Skype you and you didn't even have a cell phone," he explained. "We didn't even know where to start looking."

She knew he couldn't see her but she smiled slightly, "I'm really sorry Oliver. I'm at work."

"It's alright," he said softly, but she could still hear the edge in his voice. "We're coming."

She felt bad for worrying them, although she was a grown woman who walked out of her own building on her free will, so she didn't understand why they were so concerned. Deciding she needed to make it up to him somehow, she made a steaming cup of coffee and set it on his desk placing a sticky note beside it: **_'I'm Sorry. Your friend, Felicity.' _**She hesitated with the last part, but shrugged deciding that it was fine.

She thought she'd treat Diggle to some drinks at the Verdant to make it up to him. Reading his text a few minutes later, she knew that her plan was a good one.

**_'Dear Felicity, _**

**_ I know it wasn't your fault, but in the future please remember that when you get hurt, or upset, _**

**_or fail to answer Oliver's phone calls I'm the one who has to deal with the crazed and panicked, arrow-shooting man._**

**_ Love, Diggle' _**

* * *

**A/N: So? What do you guys think. I know some of you might not be too enthusiastic about the new character, but I actually really like him and think that Felicity needs someone like that in her life. He just sort of popped up in my head while I was writing and I needed to include him into the story. **

**Just to clarify, they were always best friends, never anything more. I just thought it would be interesting to conveniently leave out that bit of information until the end.  
**

**I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So... here's chapter 5! I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday, but maybe just maybe I will post another chapter later. We'll see. In any case this is just a fun little chapter. I hope you guys like it!  
**

***Just a side note: The site was acting weird a few days ago and didn't immediately say that I updated the story so just make sure you've read all of the chapters. **

* * *

The music pounded in her ears, lights of various colors flashed and swerved, and a throng of people had their hands up as they danced to the latest _Avicii _song.

Felicity sat at the bar, promptly keeping the promise that she had made herself—and Diggle—yesterday. There was no real work to be done at the Foundry tonight, so while she and Diggle talked and had a few drinks, Oliver was playing host in the club.

She was happy to be out of the office because it hadn't escaped the attention of the employees that both their CEO and his EA had been absent from work for four days. They knew she'd been in a car accident, but they failed to understand why their CEO felt the need to take days off and sit in her hospital room. The increased whispers and stares were becoming unbearable.

She sighed and Diggle poked her lightly in the shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She gave him a small smile, "Sometimes our secret identities…are—." She stopped short, not really knowing how to explain it to him, "annoying," she finished lamely.

Diggle laughed loudly, "I'll drink to that!" He raised his glass and she mimicked his movements before taking a sip of the fruity drink with a name she couldn't pronounce. This was only her third, but she could feel the alcohol beginning to work it's magic.

"So how's Layla?"

"She's good," Diggle said grinning widely. "It's different this time around…it's like we needed all of it to happen so that we could finally be the way we were supposed to be."

"I'm glad to hear it Diggle." And she meant it. As far as she was concerned, her boys deserved the best.

"And what about you?"

"What about me?" She took another sip of her drink.

"How's the love life?"

She threw her head back, laughing. "Non-existent!"

Diggle looked over her shoulder, "Well he's been staring at you all night."

She turned to find a tall and lanky blond man smiling at her, his dark-brown eyes looking her over. She didn't particularly want to be rude, so she gave him a small smile, but she wasn't interested. Turning back to Diggle she laughed, "I don't think this is the kind of place I'd find someone."

"You never know."

Suddenly, her phone screen lit up and James's name appeared on the screen. She smiled once at Diggle, letting him know that she was going to take the call and that she'd be right back, before hopping off of the bar stool. She looked apprehensively at the throng of people she'd have to get through to get to the door and considered taking the call in the basement, but quickly decided against it. There was something about keeping James as far away from her 'night life' as possible that made, even taking a phone call from him in the basement wrong.

It wasn't that she _wanted_ to keep things from him. In fact, when she'd seen him the other day she had wanted to tell him everything. That's how things used to be; they had told each other absolutely everything. But James represented this good, warm and caring light that she now couldn't comprehend how she'd managed to live without. And although the work she did in the basement was for the good of the city, there was still a shadow of some sort that hung over it. She needed to keep James from that. Additionally, her life now revolved around her night job and the two men she worked with; she selfishly wanted something outside of it and that was James.

Sighing, she began to make her way to the front door. With every step that she took, she felt a body pressed to some part of her. She was aware that her phone had stopped ringing, but she continued making her way through the people. When she was almost at the door, she felt someone grab her by the arm and distinctly heard the words, "Hey babe, where are you headed," through the music. She didn't respond, she just snatched her arm away and walked the rest of the way to the door.

She let out a breath in relief and let the cold night air wash over her, standing still for a minute; then she re-dialed James's number. The phone rang twice before he picked up.

"Licity!" She heard him exclaim excitedly. She could just imagine his blue eyes filled with their ever-present happiness and that made her smile.

Laughing she said, "Hey James. How are you?"

"Good. Listen, I'm super sorry. I feel bad that we've been texting for two whole days now and I still haven't called you."

"It's okay. I know you've been busy. How have the meetings been going?"

"Well, I was thinking I could bore you with the details over dinner tomorrow. How does that sound?"

She smiled, "Dinner sounds great! Boring details, not so much!"

He laughed. "Can I pick you up tomorrow at eight then?"

"I could also meet you, so it's less trouble."

"Nope. I'm picking you up."

"Okay. Eight is fine and I'll text you my address."

"Sounds good. See you then."

"See you then."

She closed the phone, but didn't immediately go back inside; she wasn't ready to go through all those people again. She heard the door open and the rush of noise escape to the outside but she paid it no mind.

"Felicity?" She found Oliver standing by the closed door, looking at her with worried eyes. For a moment, she thought something was wrong, that he needed to put on the hood while she became his eyes and ears behind the computers. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled to prove it, "why?"

He shrugged. "I saw you come out here and I thought something was wrong."

For a moment, she said nothing. How could he have seen her amidst the mass of people and the dim lighting? Sure, he had sharp eyes, but still. His gaze betrayed almost nothing—almost. '_He was watching me the whole time.' _The girly part of her mind was giddy at the thought, but her rational mind overpowered her and she stepped closer to him, narrowing her eyes.

"Oliver," she began, stabbing a finger in his chest. "I signed up for it—the night job. _You _didn't force me into anything and _I _was well aware that it was dangerous. I still am," she shook her head and removed her finger from his chest. "My life. My choice. I got kidnapped. I got hurt. You saved me. The end."

He nodded curtly, his jaw set. She knew that nod was not a confirmation of the facts she had just stated; it was just a confirmation that he was not going to argue with her at that moment.

Why in the world was this man so hell bent on being so stubborn and blaming himself for things that were completely out of his control? She stepped back, "You can't always be there to save everyone Oliver." She looked away for a moment and cleared her throat. "Now, let's get back in there. Go socialize with some models while I drink some more with Diggle."

Without waiting for a response, she re-entered the club. She and Diggle had a blast, but were both too tipsy to drive when they wanted to leave, so they went into the foundry and talked.

"…So when we got to my aunt's house, my other cousin decided that he didn't like my aunt's dress and told her she looked like a sausage in front of everyone!" She laughed hysterically remembering her aunt's plump red face. "It was totally true! The worst part was that my uncle—her husband—burst out laughing! She was so red, and in the tight red dress she looked like she was a giant tomato that was about to explode!"

Diggle was laughing hysterically spread out on the floor. The story wasn't _that _funny, but in their tipsy state _everything _was funny. They stayed like that for a long time, both clutching at their stomachs and struggling to catch breaths. Tears were streaming down Felicity's face.

"When—" Diggle stopped to take a deep breath. "When I was—when I was about eleven, my cousin Michael had a birthday party and the whole family went. Michael was turning ten and we told our mother that he loved unicorns, so my mom got him a _huge_ stuffed unicorn." Diggle began to laugh, "What she didn't know was that Michael had an irrational fear of unicorns for some reason."

Felicity started to laugh again, seeing where this was going.

"I will never forget his face when he tore off the wrapping! He screamed so loud that we thought the whole neighborhood would hear. My bother and I had a good laugh, but our mother grounded us. It was _so _worth it though!"

Felicity's face was as red as the pencil skirt that she wore as they both broke out into a fit of laughter again. "A fear of unicorns!" She gasped as she slid of off her chair and onto the floor. Felicity distinctly heard the code to the Foundry door being punched in and the door open and close, but she couldn't even look up. She was doubled over laughing.

She could feel Oliver watching them and saw his shoes appear in her line of vision. "O—Oli—Oliver! Are you scared of—are you scared of—of unicorns?!"

"Err…no?"

"Michael is!" She shouted and began another fit of laughter together with Diggle.

"Okay?"

Oliver waited patiently for their laughter to die down. Once Felicity could breath normally again and her heart rate began to return to normal, she felt his arms wrap around her waist and she was hoisted up and set down in the chair. Oliver looked at her in amusement before walking over to Diggle, who still lay sprawled on the floor, and helping him up.

"Looks like I'll be the driver tonight," Oliver said, the amusement clear in his voice. "Let's go."

Felicity grabbed her heals, which she had discarded sometime during the night, and her bag and stumbled over to Diggle's side. Diggle wrapped an arm around her shoulders—less tipsy than she was— and together, the followed Oliver to the parking lot.

As soon as Felicity plopped down in the back seat her eyes it up. "Sorry for Party Rocking!"

Diggle plopped down next to her, laughing hysterically. She even heard Oliver laugh as he closed the door and sat down in the driver's seat.

* * *

"Shit!" Felicity sat up straight in her bed looking at her clock: 9:00. She threw the covers back and dashed into the bathroom. She quickly pulled on a black V-neck jumpsuit with sleeves that came just above her elbows. The jumpsuit was formal but didn't have long pant legs. She brushed out her curls, letting her hair loose, and pulled on her heels before shoving two asprin into her bag and all but sprinting out the door.

As soon as she'd told the taxi driver to head to Queen Consolidated, she pulled out her phone: two missed calls. They were both from Oliver, but she guessed that he wasn't too angry with her, or too worried about her.

When she stepped out of the elevator, she noticed Oliver was missing. She walked over to her desk and found her tablet next to a steaming cup of coffee. There was a sticky note on her tablet: **_'Sometimes Party Rocking is okay. _****_:)_****_ Come into the meeting if you make it in on time.' –Oliver _**She sprang up from her chair, grabbing her tablet and her coffee.

Luckily, nobody so much as looked up when she entered the room. Oliver winked at her as she sat down and she ducked her head, keeping her eyes trained on her tablet. To say the meeting was boring was an understatement. It consisted only of recounting and assessing the financial reports of each and every single sector at Queen Consolidated. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

She entered Oliver's office with a yawn. "Oliver," she said setting down the papers on his desk.

"Yes," he smiled.

"Do you need me tonight?" He said nothing and for a moment she just stared at him. Then she realized what she'd said. "No! I mean—you know like in the foundry. Not that I wouldn't want to—I'm sure every woman on this planet would—" He was now openly laughing at her and she sighed in frustration. "You need to stop me when I do that!"

At that, he laughed even harder and she smiled. She was embarrassed, but the moments where he laughed were rare, so she let him make fun of her. When he was finished, he leaned back in his chair and stared up at her in amusement. "No, Felicity. Take the night off."

"Are you sure?" She was afraid that he would go out as the Arrow without eyes and ears.

"Yes Felicity."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Are you going to go hero without me?"

He raised his eyebrows, "No Felicity. It's pretty quiet."

She dropped her hands from her sides. "Thank you." She would have told him that she'd had plans either way, but at least now she could enjoy her dinner with James without having to worry about Oliver and Diggle.

Her phone chimed and she looked down to see a text from James. Smiling, she read the text: **_' I'll be there at eight tonight! See you soon! –James'_**

She quickly texted him back, **_'Can't wait! We have so much catching up to do! See you soon! –Felicity' _**

When she looked back at Oliver he was staring at her strangely, but she shrugged it off and turned to walk away. "What are you doing with your night off?" He asked casually.

"I—not much really. I think I'll go see a movie." The words had left her mouth before she had time to take them back. She wasn't sure why she'd lied, but a very selfish part of her just wanted to keep James to herself. It wasn't only that however, Oliver _was _the Arrow, the very essence of what she was trying to keep James away from.

She hadn't done anything wrong. They each had their anchors to the 'real world'. Oliver had his family and Diggle had Layla, Carly, and his nephew. She was the only one who didn't have an anchor and now that she'd found James, she intended to cling to him and never let him go again. So there, her lie was justified.

"That's nice," his brows drew together slightly. He looked at her intensely and for a moment, she was afraid that he'd seen through her lie.

"Yep." She looked away uncomfortably. Then she turned on her heel and headed out.

She was gathering her things and shutting off her computer when Oliver came to stand in front of her desk. "Felicity. Are you going to the movies alone tonight?"

"Um…yes…," she said, not knowing where he was going with this.

He smiled lightly. "I know that you spend most of your time with us and that it takes away from your time to make real friends and I'm sorry."

She refrained from sighing in relief. He hadn't seen through her lie, he felt responsible for her lack of friends. Technically, he was, but in his defense, she didn't really try either; whenever she _did_ have time off, she spent it at home.

"Oh, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it Oliver, she said opening the bottom desk and putting away some papers.

"Would you like me to go with you to the movies or hang out?" He cocked his head to the side in question, a soft smile on his face.

'_Really? Today of all days he wants to hang out?! Really?! What the heck am I going to say to him? I'm supposedly going to the movies like alone, so why would I turn him down? Crap! Think! Think!' _

"I—under normal circumstances I would say yes, but—um…" '_OMG Felicity you suck! Think!' _"I—the thing is that it's a really lame movie." '_Wow Felicity, that tops your swimming pool lie.' _

He looked confused and amused at the same time and she let out a breath; it didn't seem like he was taking offense to her horrible lie.

"I—Not that it's a really lame movie. I take that back. It's just that—um… I really appreciate that you want to hang out, but… um… rain check?"

He laughed. "Sure. Rain check."

* * *

**A/N: So Felicity ****_really _****sucks at lying. :P I hope you liked this chapter and I'm still writing, so I may post the next chapter sooner than you think. We'll see how far I get with it... :) **

**Thank you again for all the great comments!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So...here's chapter 6! **

**I wrote and re-wrote and re-wrote this one. This is actually very different from what I had originally intended this chapter to look like and I really like this much better. I hope you guys like it too! **

* * *

By 7:50 she stood in the elevator wearing a dark purple, strapless, high-low dress, contacts, high heels, and her hair loose. Just as she stepped out of the elevator, she saw James enter the building and she smiled, walking quickly over to him and letting him engulf her in a hug.

"You look amazing Felicity," he said.

She stepped back to look at his suit and she had to admit that he looked like he was worth multimillions. "You don't look so bad yourself," she smiled and smoothed the lapels of his jacket. "Seriously, no girlfriend?"

He laughed, putting his hand on the small of her back and leading her out. "No."

She was surprised to find a chauffer holding open the car door once they stepped out. She gave him a questioning look and he shrugged. "My potential partner insisted I borrow it during my stay in Starling."

The drive was spent talking about their day at work. Apparently James had been subjected to an equally boring meeting for the better part of four hours. After he'd told her that, she suddenly felt grateful that today's meeting had been only two hours long.

* * *

They arrived at a restaurant Felicity immediately recognized. It was one of the more expensive and opulent restaurants. James lead her inside and asked the waiter for their reserved table and as soon as they sat down, the 'catching up' commenced. She hadn't seen him since high school. He told her about _Cambridge _which he had attended; about the mass amounts of work, the professors, and the friends he had made.

They were so enthralled with one another that the waiter had to come back three times before they actually looked at the menu and decided what to order.

"So Licity. Tell me, why Starling?"

"I don't know really. I just knew that I wanted to be in a city. I wanted something new and exciting. I also knew I wanted to work for a large company, because you know, a large company usually means they have lots of money and they make sure to spend some of that money on the latest tech equipment."

She watched him shake his head in amusement and run a hand through his raven hair.

"You know how outdated equipment and systems hurt me. They hurt me in my soul."

He laughed at her, taking a sip of his red wine. "Yes, Licity I know. Believe me, I know."

She laughed too. "_Anyway_, Queen Consolidated had it all and I applied for the job. I got it and bought my one-way ticket to Starling."

"And then you became the EA of the CEO," James finished.

She tilted her head to the side and gave him a hard look. "You make it sound like a bad thing," she said.

"Tell me, that you are one hundred percent happy with your career change and that you wouldn't jump at the chance to return to your old job," he challenged with a sympathetic look. She could tell that he already knew her answer.

"I can't tell you that," she said honestly. "I'm not _completely _miserable though." It was true, she wasn't. Considering it however, she came to the conclusion that the only thing that kept her from being completely miserable was the fact that she knew that she was helping the city alongside Oliver and Diggle. If she hadn't been part of the team and had been forced to take the job, she probably would have quit and applied to work at a different company.

"Exactly. Licity I don't want you to be unhappy. You're my best friend and I watched proudly as you followed your dreams all throughout high school got and got accepted into MIT. This is your life and you need to live it the way you want to live it," he said seriously. Despite the seriousness of his tone, the slight smile never left his face and Felicity found herself wondering if she had ever seen him without it.

She had seen him without it. She remembered Robin Grouper and laughed. James raised an eyebrow and she began to explain. "I remember the time when Robin Grouper decided it would be funny to write 'Loser' on every one of my notebooks and throw my bag in the trash can during the 9th grade. You got so angry when I told you that you walked up to him at lunch and punched him right in the gut before taking his bag and emptying it's contents in the trash can. He never bothered me again and we became friends with him in 11th grade."

James' eyes lit up at the memory and he laughed along with her. "I remember that!"

"Back to the original topic, I will quit as soon as I am unhappy with my life," she promised. She had strategically used the word 'life' instead of 'job' and she could tell that James had noticed because he huffed in annoyance. She smiled sheepishly at him. She had forgotten how well he knew her.

"How did you become friends with Oliver Queen anyway?"

"He came into my office one day with a crashed laptop. I fixed it and then every time he had a technical problem he came to me,"she recalled with a smile. From the moment he had walked into her office, he'd shown her a side of him that had been absent since the island. She was pretty sure that if he hadn't gotten shot that faithful day when he'd found his way into her car, he would have eventually told her his secret anyway.

James raised an eyebrow.

"You have to remember that he was on an island for five years. I guess he felt less embarrassment about his lack of tech knowledge around me. So that's how we became friends." Now she desperately wanted to change the subject; Oliver Queen was a subject set on unstable ground. "How is your sister doing?"

"Oh. I can't believe I didn't tell you! She followed your footsteps and recently got into MIT. This is her first year and she loves it."

Felicity grinned widely. She remembered how much she used to love babysitting James' sister. "That's great! Do you have her number or her Skype?"

"Right," he said taking out his phone. "It's a good thing you reminded me because I told her yesterday that I was meeting up with you and ended up listening to an hour lecture, slash, rant on how I can't be selfish with you and keep you all to myself. She scolded for a good ten to fifteen minutes for not calling her the minute I bumped into you and blah blah blah…." He paused, looking up from his phone and rolling his eyes. "She absolutely adores you."

He told her the number and she added it into her contacts. Just then, the waiter brought their food and they ate slowly, talking all the while.

"Remember how many all-nighters we pulled in high school?" James asked when they had finished eating.

"Oh my gosh yes! They weren't really supposed to be all-nighters though; they were supposed to be study sessions. Unfortunately you had the attention span of a goldfish! Do you know how many times I caught you aimlessly staring?"

"In my defense, I started paying attention after you started throwing things at me," he said holding his hands up.

* * *

It wasn't until they were in the car that she realized she hadn't asked him the most important question. "So, when do you find out whether or not you'll be moving here? Because let me tell you, that would be pretty great! It would totally be like old times but you know, different since I have a job and you have a job—even if you don't stay we need to make sure to keep in touch this time and—"

He raised his eyebrows, "Felicity—"

"I'm telling you, it will be great! We'd go out for lunch and complain about our jobs—I'll probably be doing most of the complaining since I am the EA—and then maybe you could come to those super boring galas—and honestly I've never really understood why my presence is required at those things, I mean Oliver says that he needs me there, but it's super boring and like who wants to talk to the EA? Everyone wants to talk to the CEO."

"Licity I—"

"But if you came with me then we'd make fun of the snobbish rich people and it would actually be kind of fun. I wouldn't have to talk to Isabel either—that woman just sets my teeth on edge. Like who is _that_ angry all the time? Really she—"

"Felicity!"

She stopped short and blushed, "Oops…that was some serious rambling…sorry…"

He looked utterly amused, "It's alright. I actually missed that." He smiled, "I'll know by Friday."

"And when do you leave?"

"Monday, so we'll have the weekend."

They were now half way to her apartment and although it was now 11:00, she wasn't quite ready to let the night end. She had this irrational fear that she'd wake up the next day and everything would return to normal—well, what she had come to know as her 'normal' life without James.

When they stood in front of her apartment building James turned to her abruptly, "How about a movie night?"

She laughed, remembering the hundreds of movie nights they had had when they were in middle school and in high school. She ducked her head a little and looked up at him batting her eyelashes—whenever she'd done that in elementary school or middle school he'd groaned and said 'yes' to whatever she wanted, claiming he couldn't say 'no' to that face. "Do I get to pick the movies?"

He sighed in mock exasperation and pretended to consider it for a moment, before throwing his head back and groaning. "Yes! You can pick. And _really _that isn't fair: the face."

She knew that _the face_ hadn't worked since high school and she knew that he was only pretending for old times sake. She recalled being confused when it had failed for the first time and she had asked him what had changed; James had simply shrugged and said: _"You're just not that cute anymore Licity." _She had been a little offended and confused, but she had shrugged it off and later learned that if she babbled enough about what she wanted, he would say 'yes' eventually.

About half an hour later they sat on the couch waiting for the movie to start. She had changed into her _Minion _(from _Despicable Me) _pj's and he had changed into a pair of grey sweatpants and a dark blue shirt; he had intended to go to the gym earlier that day and he'd left the clothes in the car, but he'd never made it to the gym because of the meeting.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see James shake his head as a young James T. Kirk took his mother's car for a joyride, but she knew he loved the 2009 _Stark Trek _movie because as children, they'd watched every single episode of the original show.

By the time they began to watch _Star Trek: Into Darkness _James was laying down on the couch while she lay safely tucked at his side. His arm lay across her waist and her head was placed on his chest. Nearing the end of the movie, when Spock chased Khan, Felicity's eyes fell shut and she slept contently in the arms of her best friend feeling like a little girl a again.

* * *

They woke up to the sound of his phone alarm. There was a lot of eye rubbing, yawning, and pressing of the snooze button before one of them actually decided that they really should get up.

"Licity," James said, stroking her head.

"Mmmm?"

"Felicity we have to get up and go to work."

"Yeah," she said, sleepily patting his cheek without cracking open an eye. "Five minutes."

"Felicity the first time we said that was twenty minutes ago. Luckily my alarm goes off extra early, but now we really do have to get up."

"No," she protested snuggling into his chest.

"Felicity."

"No."

"Licity," he said sternly.

She sighed and opened her eyes, "Fine. You win."

He chuckled and she patted his cheek fondly again before climbing over him stretching once she stood. He followed suit and after a moment of lazily looking around, she said: "I'll shower first."

He nodded, "I'll make coffee."

She showered quickly, choosing to wear a black pencil skirt and a blue blouse. Luckily, she had had the sense to take out her contacts before they had watched the movie the night before. She hadn't done her make-up or brushed her hair yet, but she walked out to find James drinking his coffee while he read a book at the small circular table right outside of the kitchen. "Bathroom is all yours."

He looked up and smiled at her, "Your coffee is right here," he said gesturing to the cup across from him. With one more gulp of his coffee, he stood, kissing her on the forehead before heading to the bathroom. He walked of her room ten minutes later bare-chested, wearing only his dress pants. "Show off," she said, as she looked at his sculpted chest.

His only response was a chuckle and she quickly headed into the bathroom to do her make-up and brush her hair. She could hear the muffled sounds of the TV as she tied her hair into her regular ponytail. She'd just finished her make-up when she heard a knock, which she assumed, came from the TV. She quickly pulled her heels on and walked out of the room, trying to put her right earing on when she stopped short. She'd forgotten that Oliver and Diggle were picking her up!

"Oliver," she said slightly nervous. '_How am I going to explain this?!'_ Oliver turned to her from the doorway, an unreadable expression on his face.

She turned to James, and met his confused eyes. '_Shit! Now he's probably wondering why my boss is—_' Her eyes went wide, "James what— why—why are you still shirtless?!"

"I was watching TV," he explained lamely as Felicity felt herself turning as red as a tomato. She watched, mouth slightly agape in disbelief as James turned to Oliver with an easy smile and extended his hand. "You must be Oliver Queen."

* * *

**A/N: So? ****I wanted to give some background on James' and Felicity's friendship. **

**What did you guys think? I hope you liked it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Here is chapter 7! I am soooooo sorry! I realize that this is really late, but this week was very hectic and crazy! But hey, better late than never right? So anyways with with my sincerest apologies... I give you...Chapter 7! I really hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you so much for all the great comments! **

* * *

_"I was watching TV," he explained lamely as Felicity felt herself turning as red as a tomato. She watched, mouth slightly agape in disbelief as James turned to Oliver with an easy smile and extended his hand. "You must be Oliver Queen."_

She held her breath as Oliver hesitated for a split second and then shook James' hand, his fake billion-dollar smile easily spread on his face.

"James Hayes," she distinctly heard James say.

Suddenly she felt short of air. _'This isn't happening. This isn't happening' _Her head was spinning and she wished more than anything that she would bolt upright at any moment and find herself in her bed, struggling to recover from a bad dream.

That didn't happen and it took all of her concentration to take slow, deep breaths instead of gasping for air like her lungs and brain demanded. A part of her wanted to hurl herself between the two men because this was too soon; James had just met the very person who symbolized her 'night life'—the life she'd sworn only a few days ago that she would keep him away from.

It was only when she noticed that the two men had stopped shaking hands and that Oliver's hard eyes were set on her, that she regained her composure and walked towards, a still very shirtless, James. "I—Um—I this is my Ja—uh James. He's…. my best friend," she looked back at Oliver who easily made the fake smile reappear. "James, this—uh…is Mr. Queen, but you knew that already since you shook his hand and everything. You're probably wondering why he's picking me up. Well you see, I was in a car accident a couple of days before I bumped into you and so my car—"

"Oliver what is taking so l—"

Diggle appeared behind Oliver and Felicity bit back the urge to groan and go hide in her room. _'Seriously? I can't get a break, can I? One lousy lie and this is what I get!' _Digg's eyes were wide, his eyebrows high and mouth agape.

"I—It's _not_ what it looks like!" She said loudly, waving her hands in front of her.

At this, James burst out laughing and she turned to him, eyes pleading him to stop. He really wasn't helping her case. He ignored her and turned to Diggle. "Hi, I'm James Hayes."

Diggle cleared his throat. "Uh…Diggle," he said forgetting his last name.

"Licity," James said turning to her and she caught the slight narrowing of Oliver's eyes at the mention of the nickname she hadn't heard since high school, "I'm going to finish getting dressed. I'll see you later."

She tore her eyes away from Oliver and Diggle, "Yeah. See you later…" She walked over to the round table where, only half an hour earlier, she had been drinking coffee, and took the keys from the table. Then she wearily walked back over to James, knowing she had a whole day of work ahead of her and dropped the keys of her apartment in his hand. "Lock up when you leave, I have the spare keys at the office."

He smiled and then turned to Oliver and Diggle once more, "Nice to meet you gentlemen." Both Oliver and Diggle had been raised with impeccable manners, but neither man replied. Diggle looked to dumbfounded and confused, and Oliver's jaw was set, his left fist discreetly clenching and unclenching. She narrowed her eyes at both men, but neither one seemed to get the message. James was completely unfazed, and he simply turned back to her, kissing her on the forehead before whispering: "Good luck. Your boss looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Without another word, he turned and walked into her room.

"My best friend," she explained to Diggle, whose eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

Satisfied with her explanation, his expression shifted to one of amusement as he cast a sideways glance at a very angry-looking Oliver. She cringed; not only had she lied to him, but he'd found out in the absolute worst way possible.

"We're going to be late Felicity," Oliver said, turning and walking down the hallway.

She sighed, she would have to make this up to him with a lot more than a cup of coffee. She quickly grabbed her bag and her jacket and hollered a quick 'goodbye' to James before walking out.

"You are in trouble," Diggle said when they were in the elevator.

"I know."

* * *

The car ride was spent in tense silence. She kept her gaze firmly fixed on the passing city. When the car stopped in front of QC, she was ready to all but sprint out of the car. She made it to the executive elevator quickly, but Oliver was fast and stepped in beside her just before the door closed.

"You gave him the keys to your apartment?"

That was not what she'd been expecting him to say, so she simply stared. The elevator doors opened; he took her gently by the elbow and led her into his office. He let her go and walked over to his desk. She was left standing in the middle of the office, feeling beyond guilty.

"Oliver I—I'm so sorry…" She looked down at her feet, unable to meet his ice-blue eyes. "I'm sorry I lied. I didn't mean to—I mean I did, but I—I just needed to keep James away from—"

"Me."

Her head shot up and she met his steady gaze. His expression betrayed nothing, but she knew better. "No! I wanted to keep him away from the Arrow—from that part of my life."

"Me," he repeated.

She shook her head violently. He was partially right of course, but she needed him to understand. "I need him Oliver. I need him to be part of my normal life, so that I actually _feel _like I have a normal life." She couldn't stand the distance anymore; she felt like the further she stood, the more she hurt him. She moved to stand in front of him where he stood in front of his desk. "I chose this life Oliver," she said, knowing that he would blame himself. "I chose this life, but I need something outside of it. You have your mother and Thea, Diggle has Lyla, and I don't have anyone"

She sighed and looked down again. That sounded pathetic, but it was the truth.

"Mr. Queen, I was wondering if you had any intention of gracing us with your presence in the meeting today." She stiffened at the sound of Isabel Rochev's voice, but did not turn to look at her. "Of course you _could_ stay here with your EA, I would be happy to tell the others that you are otherwise engaged."

"That won't be necessary Isabel," he said curtly. Felicity glanced up at Oliver. His eyes, like his voice, cut like steel and were set on Isabel. "We will be there shortly. Go ahead."

"Of course Mr. Queen," Isabel said mockingly.

As soon as she was sure Isabel had left, she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "We better go Oliver."

"Felicity."

She turned to him and waited, but he didn't say anything. He simply held her gaze for a moment, his eyes softening somewhat to let her know that he wasn't angry anymore. He turned to grab a file on his desk and she headed to her desk to put down her bag and grab her tablet.

Oliver waited for her at the elevator, and when she joined him, they headed to one of the many conference rooms. Everyone turned to look at them as they entered, but Felicity ignored them and sat down. Unfortunately, she found herself directly in front of Isabel who was busy glaring at her.

The meeting went smoothly, but Oliver was very distracted. More than once, Isabel had to almost yell at him to get his attention. Whenever this happened, he would simply blink a few times, glance at Felicity, and then answer whatever question he was being asked at the moment.

"Oliver!" This time Isabel had yelled loudly, and all the other men in the room, Felicity included, flinched, but Oliver didn't even bat an eye. Isabel huffed in annoyance.

Slowly, Felicity reached out to touch his shoulder, now genuinely worried about him. "Oliver," she said softly.

He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with worry, and then he sighed heavily and cleared his throat. "I think we need a break ladies and gentlemen," he said standing.

"It's only been an hour and a half Oliver. You just got here," Isabel said indignantly.

"Nevertheless, I think we need a break. We'll meet back here in ten minutes," without waiting for a response, Oliver walked out.

"Oliver, are you okay?" She asked when she found him sitting at his desk a few minutes later.

He nodded, giving a small smile to reassure her.

She gave him a small smile of her own, knowing that he just needed some air. She was about to walk out when Oliver called her: "Felicity."

"Yes?"

"Who is he?"

She knew what he meant. He wanted to know about James, about the life she'd had before Starling and QC. "My best friend," she said simply, tilting her head to the side and smiling. "He's my Tommy." She saw the flash of hurt in Oliver's eyes, but she needed him to understand just how important James had been to her at some point in her life and how nothing had changed since then.

"How long have you known him?"

"Since third grade. He was the new kid then. He made friends quickly, but we didn't become friends—we were nice to each other, but we didn't become friends; even back then I preferred to keep to myself most of the time. Anyway, in at the end of fourth grade, we were paired together for a huge project. I had to go to his house and he had to come to my house. From that moment on we were inseparable. He was good for me. He made me do things outside of my comfort zone and he was always there to catch me if I fell. I was good for him too—I think. "

"What happened?" Oliver asked once she had finished, his voice low, and eyes full of something she couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Well, we were the best of friends until the end of high school." She shrugged, "Life happened. I went to MIT and he went to Cambridge. We both had tons of work to do and then there was the time difference and I guess we just lost contact... I honestly don't know how I lived without him. I didn't realize how much I missed him until now…"

Oliver nodded. "Felicity?"

"Yes? "

"Whenever you need someone to talk to…about the things you can't tell him, I'm here," he said.

"Thank you," she smiled widely at him in gratitude and turned.

"And Felicity?"

She turned back to him, tilting her head slightly. "Yes?"

"You're going to have to make this up to me," he said smiling and leaning back in his chair.

She laughed, knowing that he was totally right. "I know. What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know."

The rest of the day went by quite slowly. The meeting lasted another two hours and there was a stack of paperwork she needed Oliver to read over and sign. Despite his promises to her, he didn't even read one of the papers and she groaned when she realized she would have to force him to do it tomorrow.

* * *

She was busy installing an upgrade for the computers in the foundry, while Oliver and Diggle trained. The noises of grunting and punches being thrown were the only things that were keeping Felicity awake. Her eyelids were heavy and her head was nestled in-between her folded arms on the table.

She yawned and blinked at the screen: 37%. Her phone chimed: another message from James. They had been chatting since she'd come to the foundry, but Felicity told him that she would be working late, so he couldn't come over today. She eyed her phone, but yawned again and decided she would reply tomorrow. She lazily got up from the swivel chair and made her way to the couch facing the training mat.

"Felicity, if you're tired we could call it a night," she heard Oliver say.

Eyes closed, she lay down on he couch and waved him off. "No, no. Take your time. I'll just be over here, waiting for the installation to finish." She was even too lazy to move Oliver's shirt from under her head where it had been discarded on the couch, so she simply inhaled his scent and fell asleep.

A slight rocking sensation woke her and she found herself in Oliver's arms as he followed Diggle to the car. She was aware that she _should _have insisted that he let her down, but she was simply too tired to do so and she was almost sure he would have refused. When they made it to the car, she swung her legs and made a disgruntled noise, letting Oliver know that he could put her down. He shook his head slightly. "Sleep."

She made another disgruntled noise in protest, but Oliver simply opened the door and ducked inside the car, sitting down with her in his arms. "Oliver."

"Sleep," he repeated.

She didn't find his command hard to obey. As much as her mind told her to argue, she found that her body didn't respond, so she simply turned her head into his chest and fell asleep again.

* * *

She woke up in her own bed and quickly got ready for work. It was Friday and she was looking forward to a movie night with James and hopefully the whole weekend with James.

Just as she finished her coffee, there was a knock on her door and she opened it to find Oliver. "Morning," she said brightly.

"Somebody's in a good mood today. Morning," he said slightly amused.

"Yep. Let's go!"

"Not to rain on your parade or anything," he said when they were in the elevator; the almost apologetic look on his face let her know that he _was _about to rain on her parade,"but you do realize that we have a three-hour meeting today which Isabel will be attending as well as a one-hour meeting."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You just rained on my parade."

He chuckled. "Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all.

Time seemed to drop dead during the meeting. It felt like they had been sitting there for ages. Isabel looked angry, as usual, but Felicity tried not to let it affect her upbeat mood. She seriously doubted Isabel was even listening, how could she be when she was busy glaring daggers at her?

"Miss Rochev is something wrong?" Oliver said smoothly.

Felicity looked down at her tablet and bit her lip to keep from laughing. Oliver had obviously noticed the look Isabel had been giving her throughout the entire meeting.

"Actually, Mr. Queen, I am not too feeling well. I could use an aspirin and a glass of water," she directed the last part towards Felicity as if she expected her to get up and fetch her the aspirin and water.

"That's too bad. How about we take a break, so that you can go get an aspirin and a glass of water?" Oliver said, tilting his head to the side with a small smile.

Isabel looked surprised and even angrier than usual. That was obviously not the response she had wanted. The other men stood and began to file out of the conference room. "Ten minutes gentlemen. I want to make sure that Miss Rochev is able to get what she needs and has some time to recompose herself."

As soon as they entered his office Felicity burst out laughing. "Her face! She looked like she was about to stab you!"

He chucked, eyes full of amusement and she wished she had a camera because this was something she saw too little.

"Next time though Oliver, I can fight my own battles. It was funny, but you didn't really help solidify the fact that I am _not _sleeping with you." She began laughing again because it really was funny.

Oliver shrugged, "The opinion of Isabel Rochev doesn't interest me in the least."

When it was time to make their way back to the conference room, Oliver stood from his desk and Felicity, who had been reading over some files on the couch in his office, groaned loudly.

They had reached the door of his office when the elevator doors opened and James walked out; dressed in a suit and with a huge grin plastered on his face. His grin grew wider when he spotted her and she walked to into his open arms. "I got the job Licity! I'm officially Nicholas Storm's partner!" He breathed into her hair.

"Oh my gosh! James! That's great! Yay!" When he let her go, she stepped back, "You know what this means! We'll get to hang out again and have movie nights, and complain about our jobs—not that there's really anything to complain about Oliv—Mr. Queen—and oh my gosh I'm so excited! Did you tell your parents? Did you tell your sister? And you'll be moving here—you _will _be moving here won't you?"

James laughed, "Yes Licity. Although I will be going back and forth a lot at first since I have to close things with the other accounting agency that I work for."

"Yay! This is great! Isn't this great Oliver—I mean Mr. Queen?" She asked, turning to him.

His good humor from earlier seemed to have flown out the window however, because his shoulders were squared, his jaw was set, and his eyes were hard. He glanced down at her and cleared his throat. Instantly, his expression changed and he smiled, looking back at James. "Congratulations Mr. Hayes," he said extending his hand.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it! So? What do you guys think? **

** I hope you liked this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay so first of all, let me apologize... It's been a while I know... I've been on a school trip the past week to attend the Model United Nations conference in The Hague, so that's why I've haven't written. Aside from the fact that I had no time during the conference, the internet in the hotel was also ****_really bad_****. **

**In any case, I am so sorry and I have made this chapter extra long to make up for it! :D yaay... I hope that you guys like it! **

**Another little side note: I know that the song ****_A Drop in the Ocean _****by Ron Pope was not written while Felicity was in high school but just pretend okay? :)  
**

* * *

"Oliver!"

"Felicity," he replied, a small smile playing on his lips.

She crossed her arms and tried to keep a serious expression. "You need to look over the paperwork _today_. At _least_ half of it."

He leaned back in his chair and looked apprehensively at the stack of paperwork. "_Half?_"

Felicity couldn't stop herself anymore; she laughed and walked out of his office to her desk. She rolled her chair into his office and placed it beside his at his desk. Then she sat down. "I'll help you. I'll read some of them over and attach a sticky note that summarizes the key parts, then you can decide whether or not you sign them."

He smiled gratefully at her, and her heartbeat sped up. She quickly grabbed a few of the papers and began reading; she didn't want her mind wandering to things she would never experience. They worked efficiently for about half-an-hour and then they both decided that they needed a small break.

"So you're taking the night off to hang out with James?"

"No actually. His new partner wants to go out for a celebratory dinner. James invited me along, but I kind of want him to get to know Nicholas on his own, so I said 'no'. We'll be spending the whole rest of the weekend together though."

He nodded mutely. He swerved in his chair to face her, "So are you taking him to the gala tomorrow night then?"

"Crap!" She smacked her palm against her forehead. "I forgot about the gala!" She thought about spending a cozy night at home on her couch with James and then a night with the elite class of Starling in uncomfortable heels and a dress she had to struggle to breath in and instantly opted for the couch. She had promised Oliver that she would go though, and she wasn't about to disappoint him after having lied to him. "Yes. I guess so. Let me just text him and ask."

She grabbed her phone from the table and sent him a quick text:

**_'Hey James, _**

**_I'm sorry I just remembered that I promised Oliver that I would show up to this gala thing tomorrow night. Would you mind terribly if I dragged you along with me? We can make fun of rich people :P! _**

**_ Love, Licity'_**

She set her phone down and turned to Oliver. "Who are you taking?"

There was a soft knock at the door. They both turned to see Laurel entering the office, looking a little confused, her eyes flying from Oliver to Felicity.

"Laurel," Oliver said. Felicity was surprised when his fake smile made an appearance, she expected Oliver to reserve a genuine smile for Laurel. "What a nice surprise," he continued.

"Miss Lance, how nice to see you," she said mechanically, already planning her exit from the office.

"Hello Ollie," she said smiling warmly. "Hello Miss…," she trailed off, not knowing Felicity's name.

Felicity gave her a warm smile, signaling that it was totally fine. She was about to fill in the blank when Oliver cut in. "Miss Smoak. Felicity Smoak." He sounded almost irritated with Laurel and Felicity was taken aback. From the looks of it, Laurel was too.

Felicity cleared her throat uncomfortably, and made to stand up in order to give them some privacy. "I'll just…" She trailed off and hurriedly left the office. She didn't go back to her desk, instead she made her way down to the IT department and decided to busy herself by helping out wherever she could.

* * *

She returned about two hours later to find that Laurel was gone and Oliver had returned his attention to the stack of contracts and proposals on his desk. For some reason, she felt that the conversation with Laurel hadn't gone well and once she entered the office she knew that her feeling was right.

Oliver didn't look up at her as she entered—he always looked up at her when she entered—he kept his eyes fixed on the paper in front of him, but his eyes had stopped scanning the paper. She felt a pang of annoyance and anger towards Laurel: whenever she was involved it seemed that Oliver got hurt. Carefully, she sat down and placed her hand on his arm. He didn't react at first, but slowly, he turned towards her with tired eyes.

"What happened?" She asked softly. She was careful not to say what she _really_ wanted to say: '_Laurel is no good for you. She never was. Why do you still put up with her—heck—why do you even love her? It seems that you are always left upset when she's involved.' _

"Nothing," his gaze was steady and his voice was low.

She sighed. "_Something _happened Oliver."

"She just wanted to talk," he said, smiling slightly.

She let it go, because she knew that he would tell her if he wanted to. She gave his arm a light squeeze, letting him know that she would always be there if he ever needed her, and then began to work on her stack of papers again. She could feel his eyes on her for a few moments before he resumed reading the document in front of him.

* * *

When she entered the large ballroom on James' arm she was wearing a strapless, floor-length, emerald dress. Her hair, left in their natural curls, was sprawled freely about her shoulders. There was a silver bracelet about her wrist and her grandmother's diamond earrings were concealed behind her hair. James, as usual, looked dashing in a suit and she had to admit that if she hadn't been his best friend in the entire world, she might have fallen for him.

The large ballroom was filled with the city's elite class. Tonight's gala was held with the intention of helping the children orphaned during the destruction of the Glades, but Felicity doubted that these people really cared; they were probably here to show off their clothes, and donate enough money to improve their public image, or the public image of their companies. _'At least they are donating money,'_ she told herself as they descended the stairs.

She hadn't seen Oliver on the way down, but she didn't mind. James was with her. They spent the first half an hour mingling and buttering up the richest of the rich, all the while laughing at them.

"Will someone please tell that woman that she's about 100 years late for that dress?" James leaned down to whisper in her ear at one point.

She turned her head to find a skinny old woman, whom she recognized as Mrs. Lann, wearing a deep purple, strapless, floor-length, dress with a large slit on either side that exposed her legs and most of her thighs. Felicity suppressed a shudder. Mrs. Lann was the sort of woman who forever tried to remain 20 and it _really _wasn't working for her at the moment.

Felicity giggled and took another sip of her champagne. She scanned the room for Oliver again, but he was nowhere to be found. She brought her glass up to her lips once more, but James caught her hand and gently took the glass away before setting it on the table beside them and leading her to the dance floor.

She was safely enclosed his arms, with her arms around his neck when she suddenly gasped. _A Drop in The Ocean _by Ron Pope was playing; it used to be her favorite song. She remembered making James listen to it again and again and again. He asked her one rainy day, while they sat on her back porch, why she liked the song so much. "I like how it ends. It has a happy ending…despite it all, she's someone's heaven. I'd like to think I'll be that to someone someday," she had answered.

He had stared at her in shock for a few confusing moments before kissing her soundly on the forehead. "You will be someone's heaven someday. But you will also always be mine," he said before purposefully walking right into the rain and beckoning her to follow him. They had been in high school then, but they had acted like children as they ran in the rain trying to catch each other. By the end of it they were both soaked to the bone and muddy; they had also caught a terrible cold that had them both sprawled on the couch for an entire week, listening to their mothers both rant about running in the rain.

"But I'm holding you closer than most, cuz you are my heaven." His words brought her out of her thoughts and she smiled, knowing that he couldn't see it, but that he knew it was there.

The song ended and another began, but she didn't move, she didn't want to move. She knew that soon James would have to leave and that he would be coming and going while he finalized everything; she wanted to hold on to every single second. For a brief moment she was sad: she longed for the simpler days, where her only troubles consisted of passing her classes and attempting to be more social. Now, her troubles consisted of helping the city, helping keep Oliver and Diggle alive, and putting up with a job that she hated.

Her eyes met ice-blue and she suddenly regretted her thoughts and mentally took them all back. Oliver watched her as James glided her across the floor. He was dressed in a designer grey suit and held a full glass of champagne in his hand. He looked the part—well, almost—neither his playboy smile nor his genuine smile was present. He simply watched seemingly indifferent. But she knew him; that neutral face was the one that he used when he was hiding something.

James spun them and she lost sight of Oliver for a split second. She looked over James' shoulder to the place where Oliver had been standing and found him gone. She looked around, confused.

"Mr. Hayes."

The voice came from behind her and she wanted to spin around, but James held her firmly to his chest. "Call me James, Mr. Queen." Now James let go and she turned slowly.

"James," Oliver said as if trying to figure out if it sounded wrong. His eyes met hers and the level of carefully controlled anger she uncovered in them suddenly struck her. "I was wondering if I could cut in." It wasn't a question.

If James noticed anything, he didn't comment on it. He simply smiled, wordlessly handed her over to Oliver and turned away. A bolt of electricity shot through he as soon as Oliver's hand came to rest on her hip and he enclosed her other hand with his. She gulped loudly and suppressed a shiver. She was aware that she hadn't said a word to him yet, but she couldn't think. Her mind raced and her heart pounded furiously against her chest.

She couldn't help closing her eyes for a brief moment and imagining what it would be like if she could close the space between them and kiss him, if she could ask him to dance with her at any moment, if she could reach out and take his hand at any moment. _'Stop it! This is pathetic Felicity! You went to MIT for goodness sakes! You aren't like those girls in high school who spent their time mindlessly drooling over the hottest guy in school. You aren't the girl who refuses to leave the house without make-up, or buy a pair of sweatpants. You are the smart girl, the girl who is practical and realistic. Oliver Queen is your friend and your boss! Get a grip!' _

She opened her eyes and almost reeled backwards; there were only a few inches separating them and they were certainly not enough to allow her to keep her sanity. It was Oliver's firm hold on her that kept her in place. "Oliver," she said; her voice coming out much surer than she expected.

"Felicity." A hint of a smile appeared on his face. "You look beautiful," he said simply.

She hated how those three words stole her breath in seconds. She knew that he'd said and would say those words to countless girls; she was just one of the many and yet, they left her breathless. Not trusting herself to speak, she smiled slightly and tilted her head to let him know that she was aware of how many times he used that line on women.

He spun them; the motion secured her more firmly against his chest. She felt the warmth of his breath beside her ear: "I mean it."

Her knees felt weak. In some part of her mind, she mentally slapped herself for letting herself be so affected by him. She tried to pull back slightly to look at him, but he refused to let her.

_Give Me Love _by Ed Sheeran began to play and Felicity now tried to pull away with more force than before. This was definitely _not _the song that she needed to be dancing to with Oliver, _especially_ not in front of the city's rich and famous. Oliver's grip tightened.

"Oliver?" Her voice came out as a whisper.

"Hmmm?"

She shivered involuntarily and every muscle in her body tensed. _'What is he doing?' _

"Excuse me Mr. Queen," the un-amused voice of Isabel Rochev came from behind her. For the first—and probably the last—time in her life, Felicity was happy to hear that strained and serious voice. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she didn't sound sorry at all, "but I need you to meet some people."

Oliver hadn't let go of her yet, but they had stopped moving. She tried to step back and this time he let her. She looked up to see his playboy smile in all its glory, directed towards Isabel. She turned and found the frowning woman, arms crossed and half turned to lead Oliver away.

"Excuse me Miss Smoak," Oliver said, looking at her.

"Of course." She surprised even herself when her voice came out evenly. She watched Oliver walk away and let out a breath of relief and irritation. _'What was that? What does Oliver think that he's doing? What is wrong with me?' _

"Wow, I haven't seen you do that in a long time."

"Do what?" She asked James who had come to stand beside her.

"Overthink," he said with a proud smile. She slapped him playfully on the shoulder and he chuckled.

She waited apprehensively for him to bring up the subject of Oliver, but James did not mention it and she was grateful for that. She had no idea how to explain what had happened because she did not fully understand what had happened.

"Seriously," James slapped his palm against his forehead. An eighty-year-old man passed them, with a woman who could not have been older than 28 draped over his arm. Her heels were far too high and her dress was far too short for the occasion, but she seemed oblivious to everything and everyone. She simply laughed at everything the older man said and ran her hand along his shoulder and chest.

Felicity bit her lip to keep from laughing. "When they're rich, they can do whatever they want and get pretty much any girl desperate enough for money—not to mention vain," she said once they were out of hearing range.

"Felicity!" He said, his voice full of disbelief and outrage, "She's on a date with her _grandpa_!"

Felicity threw her head back, blue eyes shining with amusement, and laughed.

* * *

Everyone stood on the dance floor. Oliver had just given a speech on the podium and now another billionaire, who's name always escaped Felicity for some reason, stood on the podium giving a speech.

"…and so, tonight we are not here to show off, or to waste our money, we are here for the children. We are here for the children of the Glades." He held up his champagne glass and everyone mimicked the gesture.

Just then there was a loud bang and Felicity spun around to see the ballroom doors wide open as five armed men wearing ski masks rushed into the ballroom.

"Get down!" She felt James wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to the floor with him. She watched the city's rich scurry to hide their valuables as best as they could and lay down flat on their stomachs. She couldn't find Oliver through the throng of people, but was sure that he had had no time to slip out unnoticed. They had two options: let things run their course, or alert Diggle and ask him to don the hood.

She briefly considered letting things run their course; she couldn't bear the thought of James coming face-to-face with the very thing she wanted to keep him away from. Technically, James had already come face-to-face with the city's vigilante, but the hood, and the arrows, and everything would make it all too real. But that thought was dismissed as soon as it entered her mind; people's lives were possibly at stake. She quickly took her phone and texted a brief _'SOS' _to Diggle before roughly shoving the phone under the refreshments table.

The room was quiet. No one moved a muscle. She saw the men taking up different positions in different corners of the room while two of them circled around and began collecting anything valuable from the frightened people.

She flinched when something touched her hand and turned her head to see James' panicked eyes. Her eyes mirrored his. She was sacred—she'd been through this and worse—yet, she could tell that these men were amateurs. They were too rushed and uncalculated in their movements. That's what scared her; they were nervous and there was no telling what could go wrong.

They were probably no older than Thea or Roy; kids from the Glades who were desperate and angry with the elite class. One of the men was close to them now, taking the valuable possessions of an old were next and Felicity wordlessly handed over her bag, bracelet, ring, and earrings. James handed over his wallet and the man moved on.

It took about fifteen minutes for the men to finish making their rounds and once they had all the valuables in their duffle bags, they rejoined their companions. Felicity sighed in relief. They were done so they would leave now. They didn't. She could hear the voices of the men as they argued about what to do next.

"We could keep them as hostages. Their families are all rich and I'm sure we'd get millions!"

"No! We'd expose ourselves to the media and the police force. The plan was to disappear into the night!"

"We should leave now!" Another man urged.

"No," the first said. "There must be more we can get out of this! There's no real win here besides the jewelry! Most of these people don't carry cash, just their credit cards which they will cancel as soon as we leave!"

There was a thud in the back of the room and Felicity turned her head slowly to see an armed man in the back of the room on the floor, a projectile sticking out of his neck. She smiled to herself.

At first it seemed that the other men hadn't heard anything or noticed that their accomplice was no longer standing dutifully in the back, but the shots soon began to be fired as the Arrow made his way closer to the front. One of the men cried out and she guessed that Diggle had arrowed him in the shoulder.

The men were scattering and she could now clearly see two of them. One was running for the back entrance while the other snapped his head from side to side, unsure how to proceed. Just as the man reached the back entrance however, two arrows flew over Felicity's head; one in each of the man's shoulders. The other man, now more nervous and panicked than ever, fired shot after shot and came to stand closer to them.

Suddenly, he looked down at them and grabbed James, forcing him to stand. Now Felicity was angry; this idiot had the _nerve _to use her best friend as leverage! Before she had thought it through, she was lunging for James and a loud "No!" escaped from her lips.

A loud shot rang in her ears and she fell back onto the floor. "Felicity!" She opened her eyes, and almost cried in relief when her eyes met James' panicked ones and she realized that he had called her name. The man holding James, fell, an arrow sticking out of his chest. She distinctly heard one more cry of pain from, what she assumed, had been the last man standing. As soon as he was free, James fell to his knees beside her.

"Felicity! Does it hurt? Felicity!" His eyes were wide darting from her face to her shoulder, his voice desperate, and his hands were checking every inch of her.

She was confused, why was he acting like this? It was over. Diggle came to kneel on the other side of her and she looked at him wide-eyed. '_What the heck is he doing? He needs to leave now!' _Even under the hood, with the mask on, she could see that he was beyond angry and she squirmed slightly under the intensity of the gaze that she rarely saw from him.

That's when she felt it; pain shot through her entire body, but it was her shoulder that hurt the most. Turning her head slightly, she saw the blood. She'd been shot. James ignored Diggle, and shrugged off his jacket, placing it over her wound. She could see his lips moving, but she couldn't hear a thing. She was in shock.

"_Felicity_!"

She flinched at the sound of Oliver's booming angry voice and bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain as the result of her sudden movement. She tried to smile slightly at Diggle; she wanted him to know that she would be fine and that he needed to leave _now_. Diggle huffed in annoyance and he stood. Sharing a brief look with Oliver, who now loomed over her, he made his way out the back entrance.

Oliver kneeled quickly, and brushed her hair away from her shoulder. He was breathing deeply, and she knew that he was attempting to control his rage for her sake. She wanted to smile at him in gratitude, but her mouth simply would not obey, and with a grimace of pain, she gave up. "Felicity. Breathe," his voice was soft, but she could hear the strain and anger laced in it.

Every breath she took, caused her pain, but she did as she was told.

"We need to get her to a hospital," James said worriedly.

"I already called an ambulance," Oliver responded, his eyes never leaving hers. After a moment, he mouthed the words 'your phone?'

"Under the table," she said in a strained voice. Tears streaming down her face from the pain.

He grabbed her phone and pocketed it. Instantly, she knew what he intended to do; he intended to go with her to the hospital. She shook her head slowly, trying to make him understand that he needed to stay and deal with the people and the press. It took him a moment, but she knew when he understood because his eyebrows drew together and a low growl of protest escaped his throat.

"Oliver…," she trailed off, attempting to look stern: knowing all the while that she looked drained, pale, and tried. By now, everyone had gathered around them, and questions were being shot at her in worried tones. James was fending them off, so she concentrated on breathing and on Oliver.

"Felicity if you think that I'm going to stay here and—"

"I have James." Tears streamed down her face from the effort speaking caused her and the pain in her shoulder.

A shadow passed over his face at her words and his eyes left hers for a moment to rest on James. When his eyes met hers again, there was steel in them and he set his jaw. "I am coming with you."

She could hear the sirens of the approaching ambulance. She needed it to hurry up because the pain was worsening with every passing minute. She gritted her teeth and let out a hiss of pain. James had managed to get the people to stop asking questions, and many of them moved towards the doors of the ballroom to open them wide and await the paramedics; others began to call the police station.

Oliver stood and scooped her up in his arms. Had she not been in pain, she would have protested. In her present state however, she didn't even have the strength to shoot him a quick glare. James followed Oliver outside and she could feel that most of the party had moved to stand by the door to watch as the ambulance pulled up and Oliver placed her on the hospital bed inside.

The news crews also arrived then and Felicity gathered up the last remaining bit of her strength to make one last argument: "Oliver, thank you. You really should go deal with the press and the guests though…"

She could see that he was about to protest when James got in and took a hold of her hand. She winked at James; it would have to replace a smile for now as she found herself unable to smile. James let out a long sigh and dropped his head on her unharmed shoulder. "Oh Licity….," was all he said.

Oliver's jaw was still set in a hard line, but his eyes had softened and looked almost pained. "Take care of her," he said as he let go of her other hand and, with one last glance in her direction, stepped out of the ambulance and disappeared into the sea of the people and reporters.

* * *

By the time they got to her apartment it was around 2:30 am. She'd been stitched up and had been given a few painkillers to take every few hours for the next few days. James had been with her the whole time, soothing her and telling her that everything would be all right and she was grateful. Once she entered her room and switched on the light, exhaustion hit her and she almost crawled immediately into her bed.

"You can shower tomorrow," James said from behind her.

"No. I feel sticky and…ughh….I would much rather just shower now and hopefully wash the memory away."

James came to stand in front of her. "Licity," his expression was worried, "I am so sorry."

If she hadn't been feeling a little drowsy from the painkillers she would have laughed. _She'd _always been the one who apologized for things that she had no control over, but now, so many years later they'd switched places for once. She threw her heels to the corner of the room and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, like he used to do to her when she apologized for dumb things.

He understood what she was doing because he laughed and shook his head. He led her into her bathroom and unzipped her dress. Felicity was suddenly _very _grateful that she had chosen to wear a strapless dress because she didn't feel like maneuvering fabric around the sling that her arm was in. He helped her out of the dress and disappeared for a moment to hang it in her closet.

When he returned, he found her standing in the middle of the bathroom, staring at him apologetically. She had realized that she would need his help to shower, the painkillers were setting in and there was a big chance they would set in completely while she showered. He gave her a small smile and proceeded to help her. He was hesitant at first to take off the remaining items of clothing, but she trusted him and gave him a small nod.

Her hunch had been right. The painkillers set in while she was showering and she lost her balance. If James had not been there to band an arm around her waist, she surely would have fallen and hit her head. Once she was done, James helped her into her pajamas and led her back into her bedroom.

"Sleep Licity," he said as he helped her onto the bed. She shook her head; she didn't want to sleep just yet. He sighed in mock exasperation. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Mmhmm," she said nodding her head.

He kissed her on her forehead and walked to the door, "Okay I'll go get a movie to watch and I'll make some hot chocolate too."

"Yay," she said weakly as he closed the door.

After a minute she saw a figure appear from the other side of her room. At first she shrugged it off as a side effect of the painkiller, but the figure came closer and she realized that he was very real.

"Oliver?" She said, suddenly a little more alert.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it! :D I hope you guys liked this chapter! I am aiming to post up another chapter later today. Anyways, let me know what you think! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments! I read each one of them and they really motivate me to keep going. **

**So here is Chapter 9... wow... yaaay... I really hope you guys like it... :D **

* * *

He was still dressed in his suit but he had taken his jacket off and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. He looked tired, angry, and worried all at once and she wanted to comfort him, but she stayed still and watched him come to her side.

There was a muffled sound of water running in the kitchen sink and her eyes went wide: James was just beyond the door. "Oliver, James is still here…what are you doing?"

He promptly ignored her question and gently stroked back some of her damp hair. "Are you alright?" It was no more than a whisper, but she heard the anger in his voice: his control was slipping.

"I'm fine Oliver…"

"You took a bullet for him," Oliver said through gritted teeth, no longer able to contain his anger.

She bit her lip, attempting to remain calm instead of getting angry at him herself. He wasn't doing it on purpose; he was angry because he'd been scared that she was hurt. Taking a deep breath she said: "The man would have shot him Oliver and it would have been fatal."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," she retorted. "You saw them, they were young kids. They were scared themselves. He would have done it out of sheer panic."

"You could have been _killed!_"

She jumped slightly at his sudden outburst. Her eyes darted nervously to the door and then back to Oliver who was now clearly angry. "I wasn't."

That was _not _the right answer. "How could you do something so _stupid_?! _He shot you!_" She flinched and Oliver turned on his heel so that his back was to her. He hung his head and took several deep breaths.

"Felicity?" James asked from the other side of the door.

She looked at Oliver with wide eyes, expecting him to turn around, but he didn't move. "I turned on the TV and the volume was loud. No need to worry," she heard herself say.

She heard James' footsteps return to the kitchen and she let out a sigh of relief. "Oliver, you have to go."

He chuckled acidly and turned to face her once more, "Right, because you'll be fine with him." The accusation in his tone surprised her. She had never seen him like this.

She was quiet. She couldn't begin to comprehend what was making Oliver act this way. Then it hit her: "How long have you been here?" She didn't _want_ to know the answer, but she needed to know.

"I was here the whole time," he said in the same tone. His brows were drawn together and he didn't look like Oliver at that moment, he looked like the Arrow.

"_What?!_" Now it was her turn to be angry and she was livid. She couldn't sit still any longer; she sprang up and out of bed and came to stand in front of him. "You—you—ughh!" She brought her hand up to strike him across the face but he caught her by the wrist and returned her hand to her side. Suddenly, she wanted to apologize, she never meant to try and hit him, but she couldn't _believe _that he had been there all along. Taking another look at his angry blue eyes, she swallowed her apology. "So what Oliver? I needed help and James _is my best friend_. I trust him."

"I _know _you do!" He roared.

Some corner of her mind marveled at the fact that James hadn't barged in yet, but she reasoned that he probably thought it was the television. She watched as Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself.

"Your best friend…," he said more to himself than to her.

She didn't like the acid in his tone. "He _is _my best friend!" She let out a breath and made an effort to lower her voice. "What would you rather I had just tried to shower by myself and then fallen and hit my head?"

He turned away from her and began to pace. " Of course not Felicity! I just don't understand why—ughhh. Just—don't _ever_ do that again," he demanded sternly.

She sighed in frustration and paused for a moment, she didn't really know to what he was referring. Deciding that he was referring to her taking a bullet for James she replied: "I would do it a hundred times over. He would have done the same for me. And you are in no place to judge; you would have done the same. Tell me that if it had been Laurel you would not have done the same," she challenged.

"I would have done the same for anyone," he said without skipping a beat.

"There you have it then," she said defiantly.

He groaned in annoyance. "It's not the same thing Felicity."

"Oh and why not?"

"Because—you took a _bullet! _Felicity I couldn't care _less _who you took the bullet for. Don't. _Ever. _Do. That. Again."

She swallowed hard, but didn't cringe or move away. She leveled him with her gaze: "You need to go Oliver. I'm sorry if I scared you, but I will _never _regret what I did. I told you the truth when I said I would do it a hundred times over and you'd better believe that I would do the same for you or Diggle. Now, unless you want to explain exactly why my CEO billionaire boss felt the need to check on me at this hour and break into my apartment somehow, then you need to leave."

His expression softened slightly, but she could still see that he was angry. She got up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek in a form of 'Thank you.' She could feel his eyes on her as she moved back to the bed and attempted to resettle herself. His arms banded around her waist and she was hoisted up and settled on the sheets. She gave him a small smile before closing her eyes and resting her head on the pillow.

The sound of the door alerted her and she opened her eyes. Oliver was gone. James set her hot chocolate down on her nightstand and moved to set his mug on the opposite nightstand. He frowned at the black screen of the TV and Felicity shrugged. "I turned it off…nothing good. I'm tired, do you mind if we save the movie for tomorrow?"

"No. You should sleep," he said as he settled himself on the bed beside her.

She waited for the hot chocolate to cool down and drank it. Then she scooted closer to James and settled her head partly on his chest. She had been worried about being able to fall asleep with the sling, but she drifted off easily into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Sunday passed quickly. She and James spent the day lazily watching movies on her couch and happily munching on popcorn. James repeatedly brought up the subject of canceling his flight and postponing it until she got better, but she refused to let him, so by five in the afternoon, she stood at the doorway hugging James.

"Are you sure you'll be okay. I can pack and come back to sleep here if that will make you feel better," he said.

"I'll be fine. I'm taking the painkillers _after _I shower. You have an early flight and you're not even packed so get going and message me as soon as you land."

"Okay." He hugged her gently, mindful of her wound and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll Skype and I'll see you soon."

She nodded. "I'm going to miss you. Come back soon."

"I will."

With one more hug, he turned and she watched as he walked to the elevator down the hall. She made her way into the bathroom and took a shower without any trouble. Putting _on _the pajama top proved to be far more difficult than she had predicted and she struggled for a good ten minutes. Once that was done she made her way to her bed.

She hadn't done a single thing that day, but she was tired and she watched re-runs of _The Big Bang Theory _until her heavy eyelids closed of their own accord.

She woke a few hours later and turned her head to look over at her clock: 11:04 PM. Her throat was dry and her glass of water was empty. It was not until she made to get up that she noticed something was wrong. Half of her body lay against something solid and something heavy lay across her waist.

She turned her head slowly, suddenly wide-awake and very confused. The room was dark, but she could make out Oliver's sleeping form. His head was turned towards her and most of her upper body lay on his solid chest. His right arm lay under her, and his left arm was sprawled across her waist. He wore a white cotton shirt and grey sweatpants. She smiled slightly at his peacefully sleeping form.

Her smile turned into a frown however, when she remembered that she had fallen asleep alone. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling not really knowing what to think. On the one hand she was touched that Oliver had come to make sure she was okay. On the other hand, she was slightly annoyed. He was making it really hard for her to discard her feelings for him.

Her thoughts drifted back to when she had gotten shot. Oliver had been so angry and yet, he had managed to control it because she had needed him to be calm at that moment. He hadn't been able to control his anger later. He'd been angry because she had gotten hurt, because he hadn't been allowed to be the one to take care of her, because he cared for her.

_'Because he loves you, you idiot!' _She turned to look at him again and sighed softly. _'No. Stop thinking like that Felicity…,'_ she thought to herself without much conviction. She got up carefully. She was still thirsty and she needed some distance from him. She was angry with herself. She allowed him to have an effect on her and she needed to get it under control.

She made her way to the kitchen slowly and poured herself a glass of cold water from the fridge. Feeling a dull pain in her shoulder, she took another two painkillers to replace the ones that were wearing off. She sat at her round dining table for some time, trying to get her thoughts straight. Her feelings for the man who lay in her bed were feelings she needed to squash. She didn't know how. Oliver Queen had made his way into her life and into her heart, she concluded after some time. Having gotten nowhere in the 'squash your feelings for him' department, she gave up and made her way back to her room.

She carefully climbed onto the bed and closed her eyes. "Felicity…" She froze and her eyes flew open. She waited for Oliver to continue, but he didn't. Slowly, she turned her head and realized that he was still sound asleep. She groaned quietly in frustration. '_He's going to be the death of me.'_

* * *

When she woke again, the sun was streaming in through her window and Oliver was not beside her. Yawning, she opened her eyes and found him moving about her room. He turned towards her and she could see that he was busy with his tie.

"Morning," he said amused.

"Morning," she replied sleepily. She watched him finish putting on his tie before she realized that it was Monday. "Oh gosh! I have to get ready!" She made to get off of the bed, but Oliver stopped her.

"No. You have to rest. You are not going to work and the only reason I'm not staying with you is because I have a few meetings today. Diggle will be by soon. He'll stay with you."

She relaxed into the sheets but narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself you know."

"I know, but Diggle and I are going to take care of you anyway," he winked at her and moved to grab his jacket, which was draped over the chair in her room.

It was so odd to watch him getting ready for work in her room and she almost cried out in pure frustration. Apparently the universe just wanted to make her life hard and rub it in her face that she would never be with Oliver. He walked out of her room and returned a few moments later with a steaming cup of coffee. He set it down on her nightstand and reached out to brush a few stray hairs from her face.

"I have to go. I'll see you later," he said straightening himself and smiling down at her.

"Bye," she said lamely, not really knowing what to say or how to address the fact that he had basically broken into her apartment last night just to sleep beside her.

"Bye," he said as he made his way out. Once she heard the front door close, she pulled up the covers with her one hand and buried her face under them to muffle the scream of frustration and annoyance that she let out.

By the time Diggle came, she had already showered and drunk her coffee. She had put on her MIT sweatshirt and her most comfortable sweatpants and had attempted to put her hair in a ponytail, but that had been a little too much effort so she simply brushed it as best as she could and let it loose.

"Welcome to babysitting central," she said with a huge grin as she opened the door for Diggle.

He laughed and walked inside. "Hey Felicity."

"_Boy _you must love your job. Not _only _do you get to be the driver, but you _also _get to play the babysitter," she said as she closed the door.

"Go a little easy on him Felicity. He's just trying to take care of you…" He sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to him.

She rolled her eyes, but went to sit down.

"How's the shoulder?"

"It's good…the painkillers help…._a lot!_"

He smiled almost apologetically and then his expression turned serious. "Speaking of the shoulder…we need to talk."

"Oh Digg. Not you too…"

"Yes. Me too… Look Felicity. You're a brave, smart, caring person. Don't ever change. But you could have gotten seriously hurt, so please don't ever piss off a gunman again. Besides," now his smile returned, "I'm _still _the one who has to deal with the crazed arrow-shooting man."

She laughed and then gave him an apologetic look. "That bad huh?"

"Yeah. You totally owe me a few more drinks when you're all better."

"Was he really upset?" She knew the answer of course; she had seen it when he had come to talk to her that night.

Diggle's expression turned slightly amused. "Do you really have to ask? He was beyond angry…he looked like he was about to tare down anything in his path with his bare hands." They sat in silence for a moment, while she pondered Oliver's mood. Diggle broke the silence: "Do you really not see it?"

"Hmm?" She asked, coming out of her daze. "See what?"

"Un-freaking-believable. She hacks into government property on a daily basis and she's blind to everything else," he muttered.

* * *

Diggle left at 4:30, promising, to her dismay, that Oliver would return later. It had been another lazy day of watching movies and talking. Now she sat on her couch reading—or trying to read anyway. No matter how hard she tried, she could not concentrate on the words in front of her. She read and re-read the same paragraph five times before she gave up and slammed the book on her coffee table.

She didn't have to wonder what was wrong with her, she knew: Oliver. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about him and she was becoming more frustrated with herself with every agonizing minute that passed. Every few minutes, her eyes would nervously dart to the door: he was coming back and she needed to convince him somehow that she would be fine on her own and that he could leave. She was sure that if he stayed another night she would spontaneously combust.

It was six when she got a text from Diggle:

**_'Hey Felicity, _**

**_Something's come up, so Oliver will be late. Don't worry. We can handle it. Get some rest. _**

**_Diggle'_**

She set her phone aside and headed for the bathroom, fully intending to take Diggle up on his offer to get some rest. She didn't enter the bathroom however, because she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to get to the Foundry. She couldn't quiet describe _why _she felt the need to go to the Foundry; she didn't have that nagging feeling that one gets when something is wrong, she just felt that she should go to the Foundry.

Within ten minutes, she found herself sitting in the back of a cab on her way to the Verdant. Luckily, the driver wasn't the chatty sort and didn't ask her exactly why she was going to a nightclub in sweatpants and a hoodie. During the drive, she decided to formulate excuses for her presence despite their insistence that they could handle the situation without her. Unfortunately, she was still a horrid liar and finally had to settle for the: 'The thought of you two trying to work with my computer babies scares me and frankly, makes me cringe a little,' excuse.

The party inside the Verdant was in full swing, as if it was a Friday instead of a Monday. Felicity had the driver drop her off in the parking lot, some distance from the back entrance and paid him. As soon as the taxi was out of sight, she made her way to the back entrance and punched in the code.

"Drop it Diggle," she heard Oliver say when she opened the door. She couldn't see them from where she stood. Her brows drew together and various things suddenly clicked in her brain: they hadn't heard her come in, Oliver and Diggle were only training, and Oliver was using his _Arrow _voice on Diggle. Something was definitely off because they _always_ heard her come in, they usually told her if they were only training, and Oliver rarely used his _Arrow _voice on Diggle.

"No. You need to make some sort of choice Oliver," Diggle said sternly.

She stopped. She was about to descend the few stairs that the back entrance had and make her presence known, but this was obviously not the conversation she needed to be hearing. She felt guilty, and a little stupid. _'Why couldn't I just have showered and gone to bed?' _If she made her presence known, she would interrupt the conversation and Oliver wasn't one to open up to others easily. If she left, there was a chance they would hear the door and the conversation would be interrupted. If she stayed, she would be eavesdropping on a private conversation; she loved Oliver and Diggle too much to do that to them.

"I don't need to do anything. In fact, it's better for everyone if I don't do anything," Oliver replied.

"Better?" Diggle snorted, "Yeah, everyone wins except for you…and her."

The only response from Oliver was a grunt and she heard a muffled sound of impact. She guessed that he was punching the punching bag and she could just imagine Diggle watching him, arms crossed, a disapproving look on his face.

"Have you thought about her Oliver? I see the way she looks at you."

Her heart sped up tenfold and she began to panic. _'Shit! They know! Why am I so bad at keeping my emotions hidden? This is just proof that I am in the wrong line of work…people who work with heroes should be able to hide their feelings. Heck! That's like a requirement for the job! Why, why, why?' _

"Of course I've thought about her!" She bit her lip, she didn't know how much more she could take and her guilt was growing with every second that passed. She had decided that she would make an entrance, but Oliver continued and she stayed still. "Look at her track record Diggle. She's been hurt time and time again. It's all my fault…"

"How exactly was that last time your fault?" Diggle asked, clearly frustrated with Oliver. "She got shot and it had nothing to do with you! And yes, she's been hurt, but it comes with the job. She _chose _to stay Oliver."

"I know," Oliver sounded tired and defeated. The punching noises stopped and for a while, nothing was said. "But I have seen how she is with James. She needs someone like that in her life. She _deserves _that. She doesn't need complications; she needs someone caring, loving, and trustworthy. She didn't even think twice about asking him to go with her to the hospital, or to help her shower."

"So _what_?" She was surprised by Diggle's sudden change in tone. "Yes she trusts him, but he's her best friend in _life_. It means nothing more! Best. _Friend_." She heard Diggle groan. "Oliver, stop doing this—this _sacrificing _thing. You are _allowed _to be happy. You _deserve _it too man!"

She heard footsteps and realized that one of them was walking away from the other. Some part of her mind was screaming at her to make a decision, or some kind of move, but she couldn't. She stood frozen, trying to process the conversation.

"Oliver!" Diggle's voice called out. The footsteps stopped. "Tell me that you _don't_ love her and I will drop it and you can walk away and I will _never _bring this up again." Diggle paused and his voice softened: "Tell me that if you lost her you would be just _fine_. Tell me that seeing her with someone else makes you _happy_. Tell me that you _don't_ love the way that she smiles or rambles. Tell me that you_ don't_ go crazy when she's in danger. Tell me that you _didn't_ want to break something when James had to help her shower. Tell me that you _will_ find someone whom you can love more. Tell me you don't love her."

The minutes passed like hours. She stood, hidden from view, tears streaming down her face. She wanted to hear his response to Diggle's demand, but part of her was afraid that he _would _confirm Diggle's statements. She wasn't sure she could take that. She knew that her feelings were mostly—if not completely—one sided, but a _confirmation _of that fact would be enough to send her over the edge. When she had finally given up on the hope of receiving an answer, he spoke.

"I can't tell you that…I can't tell you any of that." Oliver sighed. His voice came out as barely a whisper. "None of it is true…I wouldn't be able to live if I lost her. Seeing her with someone else hurts me more than you can imagine. I love the way she smiles and rambles. The thought of her in danger sends me over the edge. I almost broke her window when James had to help her shower. I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it! Yaay! I have to say, I loved that some of you guessed that he had been there all along. :P  
**

**So yeah... we all knew that Oliver had to fess up at some point.. I just hope it wasn't OOC... I tried my best for it not to be. **

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! :D Anyway... what did you think? Let me know! **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So I know it took long and I'm sorry but I have a TON of work to catch up on in school. :( Oh well... :P **

**Also: Occassionally, the site gets a little weird and doesn't show that I've updated, so just make sure that you've read all the chapters! **

**Thank you guys again for all the wonderful comments and without further adieu, I give you... Chapter 10! :P **

* * *

_The minutes passed like hours. She stood, hidden from view, tears streaming down her face. She wanted to hear his response to Diggle's demand, but part of her was afraid that he would confirm Diggle's statements. She wasn't sure she could take that. She knew that her feelings were mostly—if not completely—one sided, but a confirmation of that fact would be enough to send her over the edge. When she had finally given up on the hope of receiving an answer, he spoke. _

_ "I can't tell you that…I can't tell you any of that." Oliver sighed. His voice came out as barely a whisper. "None of it is true…I wouldn't be able to live if I lost her. Seeing her with someone else hurts me more than you can imagine. I love the way she smiles and rambles. The thought of her in danger sends me over the edge. I almost broke her window when James had to help her shower. I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."_

A fresh new stream of tears escaped her eyes. She carefully sat down on the last step and dropped her head into her lap. The words replayed in her mind and she concentrated on breathing for some time. She was acutely aware of the fact that it was too quiet, but she remained as she was.

"There," she heard Diggle say to Oliver.

If he replied, she didn't hear it. She sprang up as if she'd been electrocuted and whirled around to the door. She couldn't see clearly; the tears blurred her vision, but she didn't care. She only knew one thing: she needed to get out of there. She had punched in the first number of the code when she froze. Her heart leapt into her throat. She'd forgotten that punching in the code made noise.

She almost let out a cry of despair. She had never felt so trapped. She waited for them to find her there, head resting against the door, a waterfall of tears streaming down her face. Only a few seconds passed before there was a loud cough and she could hear the sounds of someone loudly punching the punching bag. It was Diggle, she knew because Oliver never made that much noise when he trained. Diggle usually didn't either, but she instantly knew that he was giving her a chance to escape.

Felicity didn't think twice; she finished punching in the code and practically flew out the door once it had opened, only stopping to make sure that the door was closed as quietly as possible. She hoped that Diggle's distraction had been enough. She didn't know what she looked like, probably a haphazard mess of wild blond hair, puffy red eyes, a sling, sweatpants, and a hoodie; she didn't care. A taxi stood some distance to the side of the entrance of the club. No one was inside the taxi aside from the driver and there wasn't a single person outside the Verdant at that moment.

Someone must have called the taxi and was currently still saying their 'farewells' to their friends inside because there weren't many regular taxis in the Glades. Before long, she was wrenching the door open and sliding into the back seat. The driver looked a bit startled, if it was from her appearance, or the way she had opened the door she didn't know, nor did she care. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she mumbled her address and, after a brief moment of hesitation, the driver started the car.

She vaguely heard him ask her if she was all right once the car had pulled out of the parking lot of the club. Suppressing a sigh, she mumbled an unconvincing 'yes' and hoped that he would not feel obligated to press her. He remained quiet. The city lights swirled around her as the car drove through the familiar streets. She tried to clear her mind, but Oliver's words danced around in her head:_ "I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."_

She shook her head in a futile childish attempt to send the words away. Some part of her was yelling at herself, telling her to stop this idiocy, that this was everything that she'd ever wanted, that she needed to go back and let Oliver know that she'd heard. A larger part wanted the driver to speed up. She wanted to get far away; maybe distance would make the words seem less real. She knew that it wouldn't.

Tears began to cloud her vision again and she bit her lip to keep herself together. She began to count seconds. They were too long. She tried to concentrate on the city lights. They were too bright. She tried to keep herself afloat amidst the sea of chaos inside her head. She was drowning. She searched for clarity in her mind. It was too dark. She looked for a remedy to it all. She was lost.

Finally, the car stopped in front of her apartment building and she distractedly handed some money over to the driver. She could see that he was about to repeat his earlier question, but she was out of the car before he could finish the sentence. She ignored the doorman, who asked her in a loud, worried voice what was going on. She didn't even look at the elevator; she'd been sitting still the whole car ride, alone with her thoughts. She needed to keep herself busy, if she stopped now, she would fall apart and she wouldn't make it to her apartment. She climbed up the stairs hurriedly, stumbling once or twice, but catching herself just in time.

A dull pain began in her shoulder; she ignored it. She'd barely opened her door before she began to sob uncontrollably. She managed to stagger to her couch before falling to her knees directly in front of it. She let the fear that she had been suppressing engulf her entirely and she almost shook with the force that it held. The words now became clearer until they drowned out any other thoughts she might have had.

_"I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."_

_"I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."_

_"I will never find someone who I can love more. I love her."_

She cried and cried. She had no sense of time and she wasn't sure how much time passed before her crying ceased. She had only stopped crying because the pain in her shoulder was becoming unbearable. Slowly, she stood up on shaking legs, knees aching from the earlier impact with the floor, and made her way to the kitchen. She took two painkillers and gulped down glass after glass of water.

Once she had finished, she made her way back to the couch and let herself fall heavily on it. The only thing that kept her from crying again was the clear thought that she'd done the right thing—that she was _doing_ the right thing. Oliver wasn't ready. He wasn't ready to focus on his feelings for her, he wasn't ready to tell _her _his feelings, and he wasn't ready to act on his feelings. He wasn't in any place to do any of these things and she knew it. Aside from this, even _she _wasn't in the right place. The sheer force of fear that engulfed her when she was presented with the actual opportunity to cross the friendship line was proof that she wasn't ready.

There were too many things that could go wrong. First of all, he had countless demons that he needed to deal with before he was in a place where he could really focus on and conduct a serious relationship. Secondly, she saw him almost twenty-four hours a day; if things didn't work out it would be disastrous. Thirdly, things were constantly changing in their world and neither of them was strong enough at the moment to hold up the other. Fourthly, she still felt that she didn't quite fit in when it concerned the public, or day, part of his life. The list was long. It went on and on and on.

Letting out a shaking breath she closed her eyes. Some sense of relief and peace washed over her. She had done the right thing. She was doing the right thing. Now, she knew there were two possibilities: either they would eventually be in the right place, or they wouldn't find their footing and she would never again have an opportunity like the one she'd just run away from. Under normal circumstances, this uncertainty would have ascended her to a new level of fear, but she was too exhausted. The painkillers were taking affect and she made it to her bed; she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

The sun streamed in and she groaned in useless protest as her mind began to stir awake. The events of the previous night flooded into her mind before she was even fully awake. Felicity sighed loudly, and pulled up the sheets over her head. She needed to decide what she was going to do before getting up. Having some semblance of a plan, gave her a tiny bit of hope that she wouldn't revert back to the hopeless mess she'd been the day before.

The thought of booking a plane ticket and going to see James was beyond appealing. If there was ever a moment when she needed a friend, it was now. But she wasn't one to run and she had already run last night. She could argue that it wasn't running, just a girl visiting her best friend who she hadn't seen in years, but she dismissed the thought because despite what she would argue, _she _would know that it was running. After half-an-hour, she simply settled for a few basic facts that were fragments of a plan. She needed to get a new car; she spent almost every hour of every day with Oliver, she didn't need to add car rides too and she didn't want too be dependent on him. She needed to have a serious talk with Diggle; she appreciated what he had done, but she needed to let him know that neither of them were in the right place at the moment, she didn't want him to try something like that again. Most importantly, she needed to find a way to be in the same room as Oliver; much to her relief, he hadn't returned last night and she didn't know how she could now be in the same room as him without letting him know that something was up.

A cold sweat racked her body when she realized that she had no idea whether or not Diggle's distraction had worked. Just then her phone rang and she sat up in her bed. With a slightly trembling hand, she reached for her phone. Before it was even in her hand she read the called ID: Oliver. Taking three deep breaths, she picked up.

"H—Hello?" Her heart was in her throat. She was well aware that her voice sounded nervous and strange.

"Hey Felicity," came the voice of a confused Oliver. "Are you okay?"

She slowly and carefully let out a breath that she had been holding. "Yeah, why?" She still thought she sounded strange, but it was much better than before.

"Oh. Okay. I just wanted to check how you were doing."

_'He doesn't know,'_ she thought relieved. "I'm feeling better today." _'Total lie._'

"Good. I'm sorry I didn't come check on you last night. I got held up at the club—you know…"

She almost rolled her eyes at his precautionary word choice. "Yeah. Tell me about it later."

"Oh. It's nothing. Digg and I took care of it."

"Okay."

"I have to get back to a meeting, but if you're still not feeling well I could send Digg over and come by later tonight myself."

"No!" She clamped her hand over her mouth. "I—I mean, no…I'll be fine on my own. I'm just going to be sleeping for the most part."

Oliver said nothing for a moment. "Are you sure?" His voice was low, soft, and full of concern.

His words from the previous night flashed in her mind and her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Yeah…I'm sure." Warm tears began to spill from her eyes.

"Okay. I have to go. I'll check up on you later."

"Okay." She wanted to thank him for his concern, but she only trusted herself to utter that one word. The line went dead and she suddenly felt as fragile as she had felt the previous night.

_'You did the right thing. You did the right thing. You did the right thing,_' she repeated it again and again, but it didn't work as well as the night before. She regretted nothing. She was only upset that she'd finally gotten what she wanted only to let it go with hope for its return as her only consolation. His words were permanently tattooed in her mind, but she wanted to scrub them away. They were the most beautiful words she had ever heard in her entire life and they were about her, but they were only a painful reminder that she had _'done the right thing.' _

She'd woken up with a positive outlook, but just talking to him had stripped that from her. She didn't blame him, how could she? There was no one _to blame_. She got up quickly, wincing a little when she moved her shoulder in the wrong way. She showered, dressed herself and ate some cereal for breakfast. It was all done in a half-conscious daze, but she knew that spending the day, pathetically wallowing in bed was not a good plan.

It was about halfway through, blankly staring at the television screen while the _Big Bang Theory_ cast went about their lives in their comical way, when her phone rang again. This time it was James.

"Hello?"

"Hey Licity! How are you doing? How's the shoulder?"

She smiled and felt some of the weight lift off of her shoulders. Someone outside of the team was there for her and supported her and that made her happy. "I'm fine James. It's feeling better."

"What's wrong Felicity?"

She couldn't understand how he knew that something was wrong; as far as she knew, she hadn't sounded odd. "Nothing."

"That doesn't work on me, remember?"

It was true. It never had worked on him. He always knew, even over the phone. She had hated that little superpower of his from time to time because he always got it out of her at some point, but at other times she loved it because sometimes when he coaxed it out of her, she just felt a lot better. She paused for a moment and considered telling him what had happened. She wanted to, but because it had taken place in the Foundry, she refrained from doing so reluctantly.

"I know…I'm just tired," she responded.

"That doesn't work on me either," he didn't sound amused and she imagined his deadpan.

"I just miss you. That's all."

For a moment, he said nothing and she knew what that meant: he didn't believe her. "I miss you too. I'll see you soon though…"

This was the opportunity that she had been waiting for. Now, she could divert the conversation. "How soon?"

"In about a two weeks; maybe a bit sooner."

"Good."

"Felicity?"

"Yeah?"

He hesitated. "You know that you can tell me anything, don't you?"

For the second time that day, she felt silent tears roll down her cheeks and she mentally cursed her waterlogged eyes. She made a mental note to stop all crying activity for the next week at _least_. It was guilt that incited the tears; she _wanted _to tell him because he had been her vault for years, because he would tell her what to do, because that is how they had always been.

"I know. It's nothing…really. I just miss you."

"Okay," he said, but she could tell that he wasn't fooled and to be honest, she didn't blame him. She was still a terrible liar.

* * *

On Wednesday morning she was up early. Despite her determination, she had spent most of the previous day sulking, but she told herself that today was going to be different. She had put on a pair of comfortable kaki pants and a black shirt. Her hair was left loose, because she still wasn't able to manage putting it in a ponytail and she opted for her glasses and a pair of comfortable black flats.

She dropped her phone and her keys in her bag and walked out of the door. Hopefully, the doctor would tell her that she could get rid of the ridiculously tiresome sling today. Felicity greeted the doorman on her way out, he was not the one who had seen her run in looking an absolute mess on Monday, but from his slightly startled expression, se deduced that the story had traveled around.

Silently hoping that it was just the doormen who knew the story and not her whole building, she walked out and was met with the chaos that defined a city fully awake. There were taxi's stationed some distance down the sidewalk and she walked towards them only to be stopped.

"Felicity!"

_'No. Please not today…I was fine with the prospect of going to work tomorrow. Just give me one more day.'_

She turned reluctantly, knowing all too well that she wasn't going to get one more Oliver-free day. He was walking towards her, the spitting image of a billionaire CEO, and she turned to see the car parked right in front of the entrance of her building. Diggle followed Oliver and was staring at her intently. She wanted to bolt, but she stood her ground.

"What are you doing here Oliver?" She tilted her head to the side.

A small smile of amusement appeared on his face, "You have a doctor's appointment today," he said as if that explained everything.

"I know. I'm going to it now," she said, trying with every fiber of her body _not _to think about what she had overheard in the Foundry.

Now he looked even more amused and an all too rare smile appeared. She forced herself to look away from him and looked instead at Diggle. She was met with his worried eyes and mouth set in a hard line.

"How do you intend to get there?" Oliver asked.

She looked back at him, hoping that her face betrayed nothing. "In a taxi."

"No. Come, we're taking you," he said, reaching out to take her gently by the arm.

She was so concentrated on betraying nothing with her expressions that she didn't pull away. When he touched her, she felt the now familiar bolt of electricity shoot through her and she pulled away forcefully, taking a few steps back in the process and shaking her head slightly from side to side.

Oliver's smile disappeared instantly and his brows drew together. "Felicity, what's wrong?"

The word 'nothing' was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back, knowing that it wouldn't do her any good. She could feel the dampness in her eyes and she blinked furiously to keep the tears away. _'Get a grip Felicity!' _

"I just—you have to go to work and I don't want to keep you from that. I can go by myself, honest. You didn't have to come. I would have come in to work tomorrow and then you would have seen that everything was fine, because everything is fine. Hopefully the doctor will free me of this annoying sling and then I'll be happily typing away tomorrow. But you should go back to work. I'll just take a taxi and go to the doctor's and come home and sleep and—"

He came to stand directly in front of her, blocking her view of Diggle, who's expression had been growing more solemn by the minute. Oliver didn't touch her again, but she could see that he wanted to, as if by touching her he would get the truth out of her. "Felicity. What's wrong?"

She took a few deep breaths and looked down at her feet. "Nothing. I just feel guilty for keeping you from work…"

When she met his ice-blue eyes again, she could see that he didn't buy it—not _one _word of it. Diggle laid a hand on Oliver's shoulder and Oliver turned to face him. The two shared a look, and she knew that Diggle was telling Oliver not to push her any further. Then Diggle stepped around Oliver, "Felicity, we're taking you to the doctor's. Get in the car."

She hated how he sounded like he was talking to a child, but she followed him nonetheless. She really needed to get herself together, she thought.

* * *

**A/N: So...there you have it. I know most of you were hoping for a happy little "I love you" fest, but they just aren't in the right place for that at the moment...**

**I hope I didn't disappoint you too much. Let me know what you think! :) **


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